The Accidental Malfoy
by Rivvy
Summary: A story about a girl from America, whose situation brought her under the Malfoy roof and into Hogwarts, starting her life over for the better. T for violence and language that might slip up in this story.
1. The Beginning, I Suppose

**Author's Note: Of course the disclaimer that I own nothing of the Harry Potter World and that all of it belongs to JK Rowling.**

**I have not written or published a Fan Fiction before. This is my first try. I understand that some things may not be okay in this and yes it is MASSIVE for the first chapter, but I know sometimes these things happen. I do not have a beta, and I do not know if someone would volunteer but I will take one if they like.  
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**So review if you want and try to be kind and correct me if I did make some mistakes. Thank you all.  
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Chapter One: The Beginning, I Suppose.

The first time I did magic I was 6. I wanted my ballerina dolls to dance for real so badly that somehow my magic manifested and they were dancing on their own. My astonishment was quickly replaced with delight. I quickly ran to my mother, excitedly telling her that my dolls were dancing all by themselves. She laughed and told me I must have imagined it.

"No Mommy!" I exclaimed. "It was like magic! They are dancing like they are live people!" My mother's eye almost bulged out of her head at the word "magic".

"We do not speak of Satan's work in this house young lady!" she screamed. Her hand connected with my face, sending me to the floor from the force. "Now go to your room and do not come out till dinner!"

Since that day, I have not spoken about what I could do to any of my family. We are a church going family, and none of it really made sense to me. When they talked about the evils of witchcraft, I was absolutely devastated to think that something so wonderful could be evil. Eventually, I just tuned out church, and thought about what could possibly be in me that was not in the other members of the family. Even the owl that carried my letter for The American Magic Academy must have sensed that my family was not right because on my eleventh birthday it delivered it outside to the tree house instead of trying to go through the window. I even told the friends I made at AMA that my parents were absolutely fine with me being magical. It just seemed easier than explaining to everyone that my family was just… not normal. By some standards we were I suppose. I never understood why I always had to wear skirts that were ankle length nor did I understand why I had to keep my hair long and only trim it. That is just what my father believed that women were supposed to wear. I did not talk back for fear that I would be punished further than a normal spanking or giving them a reason to search my room for drugs. I did not even want to think what my father would do if he found my summer reading list to prepare me for the O.W.L.S. this coming year or the ingredients in my potions kit.

So it was no surprise when the summer before my Fifth year at AMA it all had come crashing down, and started my life down a whole new path, for the better.

My little brother needed new shoes. He always needed new shoes. My father spared no expense for his shoes since my brother was a star basketball player at his private school. My father did not understand how I got into a special math school (Hey I had to explain it somehow that I was disappearing for months on end.) when I could barely make a passing grade in my math classes at my public school. I just had my headmaster, who was surprisingly good at telling fibs to muggles who were not so kind about magical people, write a letter to him saying that I received a scholarship on the fact I showed remarkable skill in doing math outside the normal matter and that I could benefit by going to a special school that would enhance my talents. Professor Lorenst even sent fake report cards to my father every so often to please him about my marks.

Anyway, my brother needed shoes, and my mother wanted to get me a new dress for church since my other one was getting worn through. Father grudging accepted that my dress was getting thin from over wear, so I was to get a new dress. We drove, which bored me since most of the time I travelled by Portkey when I was at school, to the local mall with the other three children in the van chattering excitedly. It was rare that the other children were allowed to come with us on any shopping trip since there was so many of us and Mother often could not keep track of so many children at once, especially since she was pregnant again. Father deemed me old enough and responsible enough to watch the other children now as we shopped so they would probably be attending more outings with us in the future I suppose. We were just walking around the mall, everything in bags and the family actually all getting along for once when I heard my name called from behind me. I turned, and the world narrowed in on Maggie.

"Ohmygosh why didn't you tell me you lived here I would have come to visit my cousins sooner!" she squealed, giving me a hug. Her mother was smiling at me, and Maggie continued to chatter, both of them obviously oblivious to the blood rushing out of my face or the confused looks of my parents.

"Hi Maggie," I said quietly to her even though she had not stopped talking, which is what Maggie does. I love her, I do, but sometimes the girl does not know when to be quiet. And it did not help that she was chattering about school and magic things in front of my parents.

"Maggie, let Emmy get a word in to at least introduce us to her parents," her mother said, walking over to my father and holding out her hand. My father looked at it, then back at Maggie's mom's face.

"How do you know our daughter again?" he asked, tucking the younger children behind him.

"Our daughters both go to American Magic Academy," she said awkwardly, putting her hand in her purse and pulling out a couple of photos. My heart was pounding in my ears, and I could not get my breath as my father grabbed the pictures from her hands. My mother covered her mouth when she saw the pictures, and my father started to tear them up as he quoted bible verses, very loudly. It drew the attention of other shoppers, people stopping to stare at the bible freak and his family. My eyes started to tear up, Maggie grabbing my hand reassuringly.

"You are filth!" he roared after he ran out of verses, his finger pointing at Maggie's mother close to her face, almost touching her nose with it. "You have corrupted our daughter and made her a child of Satan."

"Now, I am sure that this is all just some big misunderstanding," she said, backing away slowly,

"Actually I see things quite clearly now," he yelled and turned to me. Maggie let go of my hand and quickly went to her mother. I saw my mother usher the children in a close by store before my father's hit me so hard I flew back into a pillar. He came at me again, spewing some sort of verse from his mind. Too quickly for anyone to really react, his hand connected with my other cheek. I hit the floor and oddly enough something bible related about turning the other cheek passed through my mind. I smiled at the passing thought.

"You really are Devil's whore if you are smiling at this!" he yelled. Everything seemed to get blurry after that because his foot connected with my stomach, knocking the wind out of me. I felt the blows but nothing really connected in my brain. The only thing I really remember before blacking out was a verse about stoning, and him throwing a rock at my head, making my world black.

I woke in the St. Mungo's American Branch. My head hurt something awful. The witch who was on duty gave me a potion that made me sleep more than help the pain, and eventually I was feeling myself enough to ask about my family. That is when Professor Lorenst and Maggie's mother came to visit and tell me everything.

"Do you remember the incident at the mall?" Professor Lorenst asked.

"I remember my father hitting me a lot, but nothing really beyond that," I told him. Maggie's mother grabbed both my hands and looked at me kindly.

"Sweetheart, why didn't you tell anyone that your father would react like that?" she asked. I shrugged. It really did not matter to tell anyone since I did not think of a fluke like a school mate visiting a cousin to happen to me. "Emmy, you could have told someone and we would have made arrangements."

"It wasn't really that big of a deal," I mumbled, taking my hands from hers and fiddling with them.

"Well, we had to make other arrangements," Professor Lorenst spoke, his voice as soothing as he could possibly make it in a situation like this I imagine. "We could not send you back to your family, since your father is now in jail for assault on a minor. We got your things out of the house before the muggle authorities made it there and did some memory charms on them to make them believe the paperwork we had was good enough to put you into our custody."

"The kids," I yelped, my heart slamming into my ribcage. "What about the kids?"

"They are being taken care of," Maggie's mom told me, sitting back in her chair. "Emmy, we have made arrangements for you that you may not agree with, but the President thinks they are fine and we went ahead and started the proceedings in the last couple weeks."

"I have been out of it for WEEKS!" I yelled. My chest started to compress, my lungs feeling like I could not even get a breath in them. I remember hearing Professor Lorenst screaming for a healer and people storming in the room before my world went black again. I woke a couple days later, this time I was not allowed visitors for another week. When I was finally deemed fit to have people visit, Professor Lorenst brought someone with him that made my jaw drop in shock.

"Emmaline," Professor Lorenst said, "This is Auror Potter. He is going to be taking you to your new guardians."

"Aren't you supposed to be in Europe?" I blurted out. Mr. Potter chuckled, his startling green eyes sparkling in mirth.

"I am," he replied. "However, I am here on special assignment, which is to take you to your new guardians."

"You have been chosen to represent the AMA at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in a special learning program," Professor Lorenst explained. I gave him a shocked look. "Now my dear don't be so dramatic. You and I both know that after what occurred you cannot go back to your normal life. We even modified Maggie's memory so she cannot let the cat out of the bag figuratively speaking."

"You will be staying with some of our appointed guardians for the next two years, in which time we hope that you will continue to excel at your studies and hopefully heal well from this experience," Mr. Potter told me. I was still reeling from the fact that I was standing in the same room with a legend. This man, Harry Potter, took out a potential threat to the entire world. He killed Voldemort and saved everyone who was not for his cause from death. It was really cool, in the words of Maggie. It took me a minute to process what they both were saying.

"So, I will be living abroad for the next couple years?" I asked.

"Even longer if you choose," Professor Lorenst said. "All the paperwork is taken care of and if you are cleared for it you will be leaving by the end of the week."

"And no one has to know the real reason why?" I asked, looking hopefully at Mr. Potter. He nodded.

"Only your new guardians will know what really happened if you do not want anyone else to know," he replied.

"This is…actually really good," I said. Professor Lorenst smiled, giving Mr. Potter a nod before saying his goodbyes and leaving Mr. Potter and I to iron out some of the details and giving the healers a heads up about my arrangements. It seemed so unreal that I honestly did not believe it till Mr. Potter shook my hand.

"I will be back to get you Friday Miss Moren," he said.

"I look forward to it," I said. Mr. Potter walked out the door before I realized that I forgot to ask him something. I hurried to the door of my room and called his name. He turned back, giving me an asking look. "Mr. Potter, who exactly are my guardians?"


	2. My Guardians

"I hope I don't give them a fright with my face," I said, gently probing the still sore marks on my face. No matter how much healing you could magically do, the healers still could not get my bruises to go away fully before I left.

"They probably have seen worse, trust me," Mr. Potter said as we walked up the path to a rather large house. "Their son plays Quidditch and probably gave his mother more than one fright with some of the injuries that has landed him in the hospital wing."

"Yea, it is a rough game," I laughed. It helped ease some of the tension in my stomach about meeting my new guardians. They lived in such a nice looking neighborhood, and it did not help that most of the people were doing magic out in the open. Mr. Potter had assured me that this was a magical suburb and it was okay to do magic in the open once we went past the gates, but seeing someone cutting the grass with one flick of a wand was unsettling when you spent your whole childhood watching people push a mower across the lawn.

"Do you play?" Mr. Potter asked, sending me a sideways glance as he rang the doorbell.

"I am second string Seeker back home," I told him. "I would be first but I am so short that they are worried I will get hurt so they only put me in if they have to." It also did not help the first string Seeker was my Potions teacher's son, but I left that part out. Mr. Potter nodded, and smiled at the person who opened the door.

"Scorpius! You look fantastic! I see the nose healed up really well!" Mr. Potter exclaimed, shaking the hand of the smiling thin blond boy that answered the door. Scorpius grinned.

"Yea, Mum says that she is lucky that I we have such a good healer at school or-MERLIN'S BEARD!" he exclaimed after catching a glimpse at me. Mr. Potter stepped out of the way as Scorpius moved to me and gently cupped my face. He moved it side to side and had to lean down to get a closer look. I am really short and he was like six-two. I felt like I was a midget next to him. "Uncle Harry, what happened?"

"Emmaline will tell you when she's ready," Mr. Potter said. "And don't let your parents catch you calling me that you know how your father is toward me still."

"Yes, sir," he said, letting go of my face. He smiled at me and held out his hand. "Come on, Mum will be in the kitchen making sure that dinner isn't late. She told me to bring you down, and Uncle Harry is to see Dad before he goes."

"Okay," I said, looking back at Mr. Potter warily. He smiled and made a shooing motion with his hand.

"I won't leave without saying good-bye. Go on and pester Astoria for a while," he said. Scorpius tugged me through the house, telling me which rooms were which as we passed them. I was in awe at all the magical things I passed to really remember what he told me. I watched as the portraits followed us down the hall, the occupants chattering excitedly about me. I saw some house elves pass by with some linens and I thought I even saw a ghost pass through the hallway in front of us before Scorpius opened a door that lead to the kitchen. A woman in a green tank top and slacks was explaining something to a house elf.

"Mum?" Scorpius said. The woman looked up, and her eye grew wide with shock.

"Merlin," she breathed pushing her son aside and taking my face gently in her hands. "Harry said you were in a bad place at home, but never said anything about this."

"It is nothing really," I mumbled, my hands grabbing the bottom of my top. I always hate people making a big deal about me. It came from being the shortest person in my class. I always seemed to be handled like I was made of glass. Being extremely thin did not help either. "The healers said it will take time to heal, but I will be fine in another week."

"I see," she said, a smile coming across her face. "Well, we can always take you to the healers here if something goes wrong."

"Mum, can I go to Diagon Alley with my friends now?" Scorpius asked.

"Remember the rules?" she asked, taking her hands off my face to bring out her wand and bring two chairs to the table.

"Yes, Mum," he said. "And I know to be back before dinner. It was nice to meet you Emmaline!" He dashed out of the kitchen before I could say anything. Scorpius's mother gestured to one of the chairs she drew up and sat at the other one. A house elf brought out a tea tray with what looked like scones and a teapot.

"Thank you ma'am," I said, sitting down.

"Astoria, please. Ma'am is my mother-in-law," she said, pouring us both a cup of tea. "I just want to have a little chat before you meet my husband. We come from a strange background you see."

"You can see me face right," I asked, snickering a bit into my tea. Astoria chuckled a bit and took a sip of her tea.

"Yes, well, the Malfoy's are a bit more…eccentric," she replied. She took a deep breath and looked me straight in the face. "My husband use to run with Death Eaters." I jumped in shock, almost dropping my tea cup onto the floor.

"I know, I know," Astoria said, leaning back in her chair with both hands around her tea cup. "Harry would not normally do this but my husband is almost to the end of the community service hours, and we are the only family he really trusted to take on something like this. My husband, Draco, is not a fan of muggle-borns, but he also understands that there are some arguments he cannot win. This was one of them."

"I will try to stay out of the way as much as possible I promise," I blurted out in a rush, my eyes tearing up with worry.

"No, sweetheart, no," she said, putting her teacup down and wrapping her hands around mine that were holding the teacup so tight my knuckles were probably turning white. "I didn't mean it like that. I am going about this the wrong way. What I mean is that sometimes things work out in a way that makes life better for both parties, and my husband has to learn that some time. So please excuse his behavior for the next couple months and try not to take things personally."

"Okay," I mumbled. She smiled, leaning back and letting go of my hands. I took a sip of the tea and made a delighted noise. I turned to the house elf. "Thank you for this tea it is amazing."

"Thank you miss," the elf squeaked.

"I have to go, Emmaline," Mr. Potter said from behind me. I turned to look at him, and set down my tea cup.

"So soon?" I asked. Mr. Potter smiled and held out his hand.

"I promise we will see each other again Emmaline," he said. He looked at Astoria and nodded. "Always nice to see you Astoria. I will let the wife know you appreciated the casserole recipe."

"Tell Ginny I will send my cookie recipe that Lily enjoyed last Christmas in a couple days," Astoria replied. Mr. Potter tugged at me slightly and I looked back at Astoria. She smiled and nodded at me. "Go on honey, I will send the house elf to take you to your room. I am sure you need a good rest."

"Thank you ma'- Astoria," I said. I followed Mr. Potter down the hall and stopped in front of a set of double doors.

"Astoria probably told you some of what is going on, but I need to say a couple of things," Mr. Potter said, leaning over a bit to look me in the eyes. "Draco Malfoy and I have not always been on such good terms. We were enemies when we attended Hogwarts and during the Second Wizarding War. Through many years of me trying to get him community service that would not be horrible for him and his wife to deal with, and our children oddly enough becoming best mates, we have come to the mutual understanding to be civil to each other. We aren't mates, we aren't enemies, but we understand each other. We have a lot in common and a lot we don't like about each other. One of the things we have in common is our views on how people treat children. He does not care for muggle-borns, but he also does not like people who hit children or treat them like less than human beings. Our pasts are similar in that manner. So, if Astoria did not tell you earlier than please let me say forgive Draco for his behavior till he gets use to you being in the house and try not to take anything he does as a shot against you, but a type of healing process of his opinions and thoughts trying to change from what he was taught as a child." I looked at him a moment, waiting for more, but after a moment, I gave him a small smile.

"You have a better way with words that Astoria," I responded. Mr. Potter laughed and knocked on the door. A tall think man with a narrow nose glanced at Harry before setting his eyes on me. For the third time today, someone's eyes grew wide at my face.

"Dear goodness man you said a few bruises! This looks like more than a few," the man I assumed was Draco said. Mr. Potter shrugged. Draco nodded at me. "Nice to meet you, Emmaline, but I have work to do."

"Yes sir," I said. Draco nodded and closed the doors quietly. Mr. Potter smiled and looked at me.

"That was painless, now wasn't it?" he asked. I nodded, seeing the two house elves coming up the hall. "Ah, it seems our escorts are here to take us to our respective places. Please, if you need anything ask Scorpius to borrow his owl or just send a letter with his to Albus at some point. Goodness knows that the boys write each other enough that the owl doesn't need to make a needless extra trip."

"Thank you," I said, hugging him around the waist before I could stop myself. Mr. Potter put her arms around me and squeezed me tight.

"You're welcome," he said. I drew back, nervously shuffling my feet as he walked to the door. "Remember, owl me if you need anything."

"I will," I replied.

"This way miss," the house elf said, gesturing up the stairs. I followed the elf to a room fairly close to the back of the house. The elf opened the door and my eyes opened wide in delight. The room was HUGE. The room was neutral gray colors with a queen size bed and the dresser was a beautiful dark color.

"This is wonderful!" I exclaimed.

"Missus said to let you know dinner is later tonight if you want to join them. If not you can eat later on," the house elf said.

"Thank you…" I said.

"Pinny miss," the house elf said.

"Thank you, Pinny," I said with a smile.

"You are welcome miss. All your clothes are put away. Call if you need us," Pinny said before running out of the room and closing the door behind her.

I squealed in delight, and flopped down on the bed. Life seemed to be looking up.


	3. New Things

**Author's Note: I am sorry it took so long to write this, but I have been having a serious issue of writer's block. I have most of some other chapters written but this has been a wicked witch of a chapter to get out. Hopefully I can get the others up in good time and won't leave some of you hanging. Thanks. And yes I am still looking for a beta.  
**

**Riv.**

**Chapter 3: New Things  
**

My nerves finally caught up with me after about fifteen minutes. I could not even bring myself to go down for dinner, get something from the kitchen later in the evening, or even ask Pinny for something to eat. I was still reeling from the whole being in another country experience as well as being in the house with a Death Eater. I did not trust myself to have a decent conversation with anyone. I poked around my room for a while, figuring out where the house elves put all my clothes and school books before passing out around midnight.

When I woke the next morning, it was raining. The sound of it on the windows always soothed me when I was feeling overwhelmed and anxious about school or home. It put a smile on my face as I got dressed that morning and did my brownish-blonde hair in a braid. Pinny walked in just as I finished putting a hair tie on the end of it.

"Missus Astoria said I was to take you to breakfast Miss," she said.

"Thank you, Pinny," I said giving her a smile as I stood, smoothing my skirt out. I dressed in my favorite outfit, a long dark green skirt with white button up top. It was one of the few that did not have almost completely worn through places. I hoped as I followed Pinny to where we would be eating that I dressed appropriately enough. I wanted to make a good impression.

My jaw dropped when Pinny opened a set of double doors in the foyer. It had to be one of the most impressive dining rooms I have seen. I completely forgot about everything else as I walked around the room, admiring everything in it. The dining set was made of some sort of dark wood that contrasted with the light gray walls in a spectacular manner. The deep red curtains were open to let in the rainy day light and sending rippling gray light patterns across the walls and paintings. It was magnificent.

"Did you sleep well?" Astoria asked, snapping me out of my daze and drawing my attention to the three people at one end of the table. She was dressing in a white summer dress on one side of Mr. Malfoy, who was reading a newspaper with "The Daily Prophet" in big letters on the front. My nerves settled drastically when I saw Scorpius, sitting on the other side of Mr. Malfoy, barely awake in his pajamas, nodding over his cup of coffee.

"I slept well thank you," I told her, walking around the table and sitting next to Scorpius. "I am sorry I did not come down for dinner last night."

"After travelling all day I did not expect you to," she said, waving her wand at the coffee tray. A cup came over and settled in front of me, as well as the cream and sugar containers. Pinny brought over the pot of coffee as other house elves started bringing in the plates full of breakfast food. "Harry told me that you traveled most of the day yesterday."

"It was a long trip," I commented, leaning back to let the house elf set a plate in front of me and Pinny to pour the coffee.

"Well we will be taking it easy today," Astoria told me as she cut into her pancakes on her plate. "Draco will be out most of the day, won't you dear?" Mr. Malfoy made a positive sounding noise from behind his paper. I smiled, taking a bite of my eggs. My father made the same noise from behind his paper in the mornings at home.

"Coffee good this morning," Scorpius mumbled, slightly more awake now that food was in front of him.

"Thank you Master Scorpius," Pinny squeaked, hurrying over with the coffee pot to refill his mug.

"Welcome Pinny," he mumbled, shoving a forkful of pancakes in his mouth. Pinny looked at me, a worried look on her face.

"Miss, is something wrong with your coffee?" she asked. I gave Pinny a nervous smile.

"I have never had coffee before," I told her, a slight blush coming to my face. Scorpius's head snapped up from his breakfast, turning to me and blinking in shock.

"You have never had coffee?" he asked incredulously. I shrugged my shoulders. Scorpius grabbed my cup, dumped some cream and sugar in it, and then handed it back to me. "Try this."

I took a sip, felt my eyes grow wide, and took a bigger drink. It was the most amazing thing I have ever tasted in my life. I looked at Pinny and gave her a pleased grin. "This is wonderful."

"How could you not have had coffee?" Scorpius asked. "Did they not serve coffee at AMA?"

"You had to have your parents sign a permission slip for it and my family didn't approve of coffee," I replied, taking another large drink.

"Pinny is the best hot drink maker that I have ever tasted," Astoria said. "The tea shop owner set her free for making suggestions to change the menu constantly. It was her loss and our gain."

"Missus Astoria says I am a wonderful asset to the home," Pinny proudly declared as she topped off my mug before heading back to the kitchen. I went back to eating my breakfast, my nerves soothed by the large breakfast filling my stomach and the comfortable silence that followed for the next few minutes.

"Emmaline," Mr. Malfoy said, folding his paper under his arm and standing. "Join me in my office when you finish please."

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy," I said, trying not to sound shocked as I watched him walk out of the room. I gave Astoria a panicked look. "Did I do something wrong?"

"He just wanted to speak with you about some things. Nothing bad, I promise," she told me. I nodded my head, taking one last bite of my pancakes before following him out. I went over in my head what I did that morning, what could have possibly when wrong that he would want to speak to me. I went into his office, and stood in front of his desk.

"Please sit Emmaline," he said, not looking up from the parchment he was reading. I sat in one of the chairs in front of his desk, folding my hands tightly in my lap. Setting the parchment down, he sat back in his chair and studied me. "I have the reports from your professors as well as some of your school mates' parents. They tell me that you are quite smart, work hard, and do not mind helping others when needed."

"Thank you sir," I said, my eyes focusing on the bookcase above his left shoulder. I did not want to look directly at him. I was so afraid he would snap at me if I looked at him in the wrong way.

"Professor Lorenst says that you have some of the best marks in your year in several subjects," he told me. "He also says that you are on reserve on your Quidditch team."

"Seeker sir," I replied.

"Not surprising with your size," he said, giving me a small smile. "Smaller means harder to spot and faster on your broom. I hope you will try out for your house team at Hogwarts."

"I will sir," I said, not really sure what he means by house. I heard him drum his fingers on the desk, and his chair rock back.

"Astoria and I told Scorpius that he was to tell people you are his cousin," he said. My eyes snapped to his face, and my jaw dropped in shock. He was giving me a slight smile. "We figured explaining to people you were a distant cousin made more sense than an exchange student program. I thought it would be best to tell you before someone came to visit and Scorpius sprung it on you."

"Thank you sir," I stammered.

"I have work to do, so go explore and try not to terrorize the house elves like my son," he said, giving me comically fierce look.

"May I have your paper sir?" I blurted out. His eyebrows raised in shock. "If you are done with it that is."

"You may," he replied, handing it to me. I thanked him and ran out the door.

After reading the paper, delighted to find that is was filled with wizarding news, I slide it under Mr. Malfoy's office door. I did not know if he saved them or recycled them in some way, but I did not want to take any chances. Then, I went to my room to study. I knew that the books might change, but I would at least have some knowledge of the subject when I started at Hogwarts. I did not want to take any risks when it came to my O.W.L.S. examinations. I had all my books out on my bed, trying to decide what I was going to study first when someone tapped on my door before opening it. Panic rushed through me as I started to shove my books and parchment anywhere I could. My breath came out in frantic gasps as my mind raced to come up with some excuse, any excuse to explain my schoolwork to whoever came in the room.

"Emmy," Scorpius shouted, grabbing my hands and pulling me against him. I shook in fear, my heart pounding in my chest as I slowly remembered I was not at home. Relief overcame me as I started sobbing. Scorpius leaned back against my bed and murmured softly to me as he rubbed my back, letting me cry into his shoulder. When my sobs dwindled into sniffles, Scorpius set me back a little and looked down at me. "I am sorry Emmy. I shouldn't have opened the door without your permission."

"I am so use to hiding everything," I sniffed, using his t-shirt sleeve to wipe my nose.

"Well now you don't," he responded, tugging on my braid. "So what were your plans today?"

"Study," I told him, grabbing one of my books I knocked in the floor before standing up. "I wanted to relax today."

"Mum wanted to know if you wanted to go shopping," he asked me, grabbing a couple of books from under the bed before standing.

"If she needs me to go with her I can," I said, setting the book I had on top of the dresser.

"Emmy," Scorpius said, coming up beside me and setting down the books before taking me by the shoulders. He turned me to him, tucking a blonde strand that had escaped behind my ear. "Dad sent me up to ask you as well as warn you. Mum wants to get you some new things to wear."

"Oh I don't-"

"The house elves told her exactly what state your wardrobe is in," Scorpius interrupted. I felt my face grow hot. He smiled as me and squeezed my shoulders. "Don't be embarrassed. The house elves were just worried that they would fall apart in the laundry. Mum told Dad that she always wanted to shop for a girl of her own. This is just as much for her as you, so please go shopping with Mum?"

"Okay," I mumbled, grabbing the hem of my shirt with my hands and twisting it.

"I will get this picked up, you go on down and have fun with Mum," he told me. I gave him a quick hug before running out and down to meet up with Astoria.

"We are going to the salon first," Astoria told me, pulling the car into a mall. "I figured you might want to get a manicure and pedicure while I get my hair trimmed." I nodded at her for about the seventh time since we got in the car. I had no idea how to respond to anything she said. I never had a real shopping day with my mother without the children, so Astoria talking about shoes went right over my head. When we walked into the mall, I immediately realized this was a magic mall. My mouth gaped open at the stores and moving mannequins. When we walked into the salon the first thing I noticed was the rotating rack of hair products and nail polish. Totally out of my element, I let Astoria chatter with the woman behind the counter as I watched a witch cut another witch's hair with some floating scissors and comb.

"Emmy," a woman said coming up beside me. She was a small petite older woman with bright blue hair cut extremely short and styled in spikes. She gave me a smile with such genuine warmth that when she held out her hands I did not hesitate to take them. "Astoria told me that you are to be pampered to your heart's desire." She told me as she lead me to a curtained off area.

"I suppose I will just get the usual stuff then," I told her, giving her an unsure smile.

"Well my name is Gwen," she told me, gesturing to a chair with a pool of bubbling water at the foot. I sat down and let Gwen chatter as she worked. "Astoria said you have never had anything like this before so I am supposed to do everything I can to make sure to are comfortable."

"Well I suppose I can-"

"OH MY! Darling, what have you been doing to your hair?" a male in tight green pants and black sleeveless top yelled as he picked up my braid and ran his hands over it. "This is the most damaged hair I have ever seen walk into this salon. You are NOT leaving until I fix this mess."

"Ummmm," I said, looking at Gwen who was bent over my feet with some sort of stone, scrubbing them while shaking her head.

"Just let him dear," she told me. "He won't stop talking about it if you don't and he probably will hunt you down if you walk out without letting him to something to it."

"This is not your natural color!" he exclaimed, pulling apart my roots with his fingers.

"My mother use to bleach my hair to cure lice," I mumbled.

"Bleach doesn't cure lice," Astoria said, pulling back the curtain and glaring at the man who had taken the tie off my hair and was taking apart my braid. "Krak, leave her alone."

"But she is a MESS!" he screeched. "I will not stand for this not while I am here. You will bring her to my chair once you are done with her nails." He sauntered off, muttered to himself. Astoria rolled her eyes.

"If you don't want him to touch your hair I will see if I can distract him while you make an escape," Gwen told me as she dried off my feet and started to cut them down. "Krak has a tendency to be a tad bit dramatic."

"Can I have a haircut Astoria?" I asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.

"Sweetheart, you can have whatever you want," Astoria said. "Just make sure they put it all on my tab, Gwen."

"Right," Gwen replied, wiping my toes off. Astoria disappeared behind the curtain and left Gwen to her own devices. She finished my toes and fingernails in a fairly fast time after that, and then sent me off to Krak who had some potion heating on his counter. He gushed over my nails a bit before setting me down and covering my hair with the slimy yellow concoction. It made my scalp tingle and smelled something awful, but I figured he knew what he was doing.

"Now, it should take a half an hour to do what the potion needs to do so you just relax and read a little something," he said before walking over to a lady under what looked to be a hair dryer that was steaming violet colored smoke. Astoria was sat in the seat next to mine.

"This stuff smells awful," I told her. She laughed at me, her eyes twinkling.

"That is what I said the first time I made the batch that worked," she said.

"You made this?"

"Sixth year one of my dorm mates and I decided that we wanted to dye our hair a nice emerald green color for the Quidditch Finals to support Slytherin," she said. She laughed again, and shook her head as the hairdresser placed a cover over her. "We accidently bought permanent dye instead of the temporary. Her parents thought it was great fun and a laugh. She got to dye her hair back to a more natural color while my parents decided to punish me by making me keep it green till it grew out."

"That must have taken forever," I giggled. Astoria grinned at me as a spray bottle started to douse her honey blonde hair with some sort of blue water.

"Not when you create a special potion that grows the hair out better than the ones before," she replied. "My parents were livid that my NEWT specialization was in beauty products. You would not believe what a fortune I made in the first year for improving many of the beauty products that were already on the market."

"Wow," I said. "So this stuff will grow my hair out?"

"And it will also be extremely healthy," she told me before her hairdresser blocked her from my view. Krak came over to check on me, slathering more of the potion on my hair before running off to the back of the salon. I sighed, picked up one of the magazines on a floating tray that passed in front of me and started to read it. I was intrigued by the various ads for zit removal spells (and by zit removal I mean they really come off your skin and float in front of you) that really work wonders and a piece they did on someone I assumed was famous in the magic world since she had a whole six page spread. They talked to her about traveling and how it felt to have special permission to use magic out of school at age sixteen for the research she was helping her parents with, but they somehow worked into the piece questions of how to keep looking fabulous without magic while tromping in the jungle.

"All right my sweet let's get it washed and start cutting this stuff off!" Krak said, waving his wand and covering my head with water and some sort of shampoo. I set the magazine down and closed my eyes, enjoying Krak massaging my scalp as he scrubbed the shampoo out of my hair. I felt some warm water rinsing out my hair and heard Krak basically cooing behind me. "Oh darling this looks fantastic."

"I wanna see," I said as I tried to turn around to look in the mirror.

"NO!" he yelped, grabbing me and sitting me so I was facing away from every mirror in the place. "I want you to be totally surprised!" I felt a comb going through my hair and scissors gently snipping away. He guided my head so it was tilted down and I was shocked at how much hair he had taken off already. I watched as more and more of my hair fell to the floor and as the blonde strands turned to a dark brown and even darker when he started to snip just small bits. He put some conditioner in it when he was done cutting it and washed it out. It felt weird as he dried it since my hair now felt like it came down to just below my chin.

"Oh Emmy," Astoria said, standing in front of me as Krak sprayed something on my hair. Her eyes welled up a bit and she smiled. "I never would have thought …"

"What?" I asked.

"And voila!" Krak said as he spun me around to face the mirror. My jaw dropped in shock.

"Black," I whispered. I ran my hands through my now black curly tresses. My skin color looked less washed out and my eyes stood out remarkably more. I jumped up from the chair as soon as Krak removed the cover off me and wrapped Astoria in a hug. "This is the best."

"You're welcome," she said, running a hand over my hair. I then turned to Krak and gave him a huge grin.

"You are the best!" I said, giving him a quick hug.

"Oh darling I could have told you that," he demurred. He made a shooing motion with his hands. "Now go show off that fabulous hair and buy yourself some decent clothes."

"Thank you," I said before walking over to Astoria. She was standing at the doorway of the salon with a bag in her hand, grinning with the gleam in her eyes.

"Are you ready to make a dent in my husband's accounts?" she asked.

"Oh, we don't have to buy a lot," I told her. "We can just get a few things."

"Oh honey we couldn't dent his accounts if we tried," she laughed, grabbing my hand and guiding me over to a store a couple doors down. The woman behind the counter's eyes lit up in what I swear was dollar signs when she spotted Astoria.

"Can I help you, Mrs. Malfoy?" the woman asked.

"Yes," Astoria replied, gently pushing me forward. "This young lady is in need of some clothes. Don't let her push you around. Let me know what catches her eye and we will just shove her in a dressing room with the things she likes."

"Right," the woman said, coming from behind the counter and studying me. "You are very small."

"Four foot ten and a half," I grumbled. My mother and father were fairly average height, and it was a running joke in the family that I ended up so small. My weight was never an issue for me because I usually only ate like a bird and running around after the little ones kept off what little I might have gained every school year.

"That is a good thing sometimes," she told me. She nodded briskly, pointing to the racks toward the back of the store. "Try looking at those. I am going to pull some jeans and put them in the dressing room. Just get what you like and bring it over when you think you have enough."  
"Okay," I said. I weaved through the racks toward the direction she pointed, and stopped when I saw a rack full of baby doll t-shirts. My father would never let me wear something so tight. He said that girls who wore those just wanted men to look at her breast. I just liked some of the sayings on them. I looked through them and pulled a couple before jumping over to another rack of tank tops. I picked out of few of them and even picked up a couple of dresses. Astoria waved me over to the dressing rooms and shoved me inside with a stack she chose as well.

"Let's see what we have here," she said, picking through the stack I gathered. She nodded at a few of the t-shirts that I picked out and the dresses before gathering up the discards and shutting the curtain. "Now try those on while I see what kind of shoes I can get a hold of for you."

"Cool," I said, stripping off my clothes and setting them aside. I donned one of the dresses I picked out, a yellow summer dress with spaghetti straps. I stepped out, and walked over to where there were three mirrors and a pedestal. I stepped up on it, smoothing the dress before looking at myself in the mirror. What I saw was a stranger looking back at me.

My hair had a natural wavy curl, not the tight perm like curl I saw some girls at school sporting. It was black, a deep blue black that seemed to absorb all the light around it. My face was framed by it and my eyes looked much bluer than I have ever seen them in my life. My legs looked tone and solid, and my body had curves I had never seen before. I looked like a completely different person.

"It is amazing what a dress that actually fits does to you," Astoria said quietly, coming up behind me with a stack of pants on her arm. She wrapped the other arm around my waist and leaned on my arm, smiling. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you," I whispered, smoothing the dress over me. I stepped down and went back in the dressing room, trying to deal with the emotions running through me as I took off the dress and put on a pair of red denim shorts and a bright yellow tank top. I stepped out of the dressing room, a smile on my face as I bounced on my toes a bit. "I like this."  
"It is cute," Astoria said.

"I agree," a woman said coming into the dressing room. Astoria stiffened and turned to the woman, a fake smile plastered on her face.

"Pansy, good to see you out and about again," Astoria said.

"Well darling I am known to get out of the house on occasion," Pansy said, giving Astoria an air kiss on each cheek before turning an appraising look on me. "So, who is this adorable little creature?"

"This is my niece Emmaline," Astoria said.

"She is absolutely charming," she said, wrapping one of my curls around her fingers. I resisted the urge to slap her hand off me and tried to give her a polite smile.

"Thank you Ms…"

"Goyle darling," she demurred, fiddling with one of her earrings as she turned back to Astoria. "Gregory and I have been dying for all of you to come to dinner again. Is there any way we can get together before the children go back to school?"

"I will get together with Scorpius and we will let you know," Astoria replied.

"Well, I am off then darlings! Owl me!" Ms. Goyle said with a little wave of her hand and breezed out of the dressing room area. Astoria relaxed, letting out a sigh as she set the pants she was holding in the dressing room.

"Let's try these on and then we can get some make-up," she told me.

"Everything okay Aunt Astoria?" I asked.

"Yes," she said, giving me a genuine smile. "Let's give Uncle Draco a reason to twitch other than hearing about that dreadful dinner invitation." I giggled a bit, and went back into the dressing room, fully energized to shop till I dropped.


	4. The Goyles

**Author's Note: I have tried to get this to you in a timely manner, but the laptop died and I cannot really type on my desktop and feel like I am okay with it. I am OCD like that. Thank you to the people who reviewed and hopefully I will have the next chapter up in a week or so since I am not allowed overtime.**

**Chapter 4: The Goyles**

We got home that afternoon just in time to catch Scorpius coming from the kitchen. He did a double-take when he saw me. "Your hair is black!"

"No really Sherlock?" I said, shoving my bags full of clothes at him. He looked down at them, baffled. "Carry these to my room so the house elves don't think we are freeing them by giving them clothes."

"Most of our house elves are free and get paid wages," Astoria said. I looked at her, shocked. Most of the witches and wizards I know keep house elves and take care of them well, but I have never heard of any of them being paid. Astoria shrugged. "I got tired of trying to hand them clothing when I was done shopping and them screaming at me that they were sorry please don't give them clothes. Draco and I decided that the best way to solve that problem was to find house elves that wanted to get paid and were free."

"That is… clever. I like it," I replied, seeing Scorpius give my bags to a house elf out of the corner of my eye. "HEY! I said you take them up not a house elf."

"Now now don't get testy I am just getting the first load up. Mum probably has more coming," Scorpius told me.

"All we got was those bags and this," I said, gesturing to the red denim shorts and yellow tank top I modeled earlier and decided to wear home. Scorpius snickered.

"You left Mum alone at some point right?" he asked.

"Yes," I said, just as some large looking owls came in carrying bags. I looked at Astoria after the fourth owl and she just shrugged.

"You looked great in everything you tried on," she told me.

"I didn't need all of this," I said, my voice coming out in a high pitch screech. "I only needed a few things to get through summer and go to school in. We have to take everything back."

"We can afford it, Emmy," Astoria said taking my now trembling hands into hers.

"But I don't _need_ it," I replied, tears coming out. Astoria pulled me into a hug, rubbing my back.

"Sweetheart," she said quietly. "You needed new clothes."

"But you spent so much!" I wailed.

"Emmy," Astoria said backing up a step and taking my chin in her hand. She looked at me with exasperated caring and indulgence. "I did not spend anything close to what Draco said I probably should spend. So no worries love."

"Okay," I sniffed.

"Brought home the store, did you?" I heard Mr. Malfoy ask from the direction of his office. I ducked my head and wiped my eyes as Astoria walked over to him. I turned around to see her giving him a kiss, smiling up at him.

"Only half of them," she told him. Mr. Malfoy smirked at her and turned him full gaze on me. His gaze traveled up and down me, stopping briefly on my hair before sending a glare at my lower half.

"Why are her shorts so short?" he asked.

"Darling, they are not that short," Astoria sighed.

"Well they are shorter then I remember you ever wearing," he told her, looking back at her with a smile.

"That is because you wished I had shorts that were shorter," she replied, giving him a saucy smile.

"Merlin, get a room," Scorpius said, tugging on my arm. "Come on, Emmy. I will help you put away some of your new stuff while Mum and Dad get some alone time."

"Thank you again," I called out as Scorpius dragged me upstairs to my room. We went through all the cloths and other things that Astoria decided that I might need. It was actually daunting how much that was bought.

"Mum really went all out," he said, hanging up the last pair of jeans. "You should be set for a while."

"Hey Scorpius," I said, as I tucked the last of the underwear we bought in my drawer. "Who are the Goyles?" I looked at him, and he was frozen in front of my closet with his hands on the doors.

"Why?" he asked, not turning to look at me as he slowly closed the doors.

"We saw Pansy Goyle while we were out," I told him. Scoripus sighed and tipped his head back.

"Let me guess, she invited us to dinner once she saw you," Scorpius said, turning to me. I nodded. He shook his head. "Mrs. Goyle has been trying to get the family over since Dad's investments took off. She has wanted our families to connect for some time. When Priscilla graduated a few years back and ran off to Russia with some Bulgarian exchange student, she thought that we ruined all chances of it. Now you have come along and I bet her mind about had a seizure from thoughts that you might be Greg's match."

"Greg?" I said.

"Her troll of a son in Seventh year," he explained. I raised an eyebrow at him. Scorpius ran a hand through his hair and gave me a sheepish look. "Sorry. Greg and I are in the same house and we aren't exactly mates."

"I see," I replied. "So, when is dinner?"

"Mum usually naps after shopping trips, so I say about six," Scorpius told me.

"Good," I said, grabbing his arm and shoving him out of my bedroom door. "That means I can nap before dinner too. Wake me when it is time for dinner."

"Yes cousin dear," Scorpius replied in a sing-song voice as I closed the door on him. I flopped on the bed and curled around my pillows, smiling blissfully as I drifted off for a nap.

"Draco, Pansy invited us over for dinner today," Astoria today Mr. Malfoy at dinner as she took a bite of her steak. Mr. Malfoy stopped cutting his potato, and looked up at her.

"She did, huh?" he said, taking a bite of potato. "What did you tell her?"

"That I would ask you and get back to her," she replied.

"Huh," he said, sitting back in his chair and chewing thoughtfully. "Well, how do you think it would go?  
"Oh, Dad, let me tell you how it would go," Scorpius said, putting his napkin on the table and sniffing. He plastered a huge fake smile on his face and turned to Astoria, speaking in a high pitched haughty tone. "Oh Astoria, have I told you that Greg has been accepted into three finishing academies and he hasn't even taken his NEWT tests? He is so handsome, isn't he? And my dear husband is such a hard worker, that is why he isn't here working late again. But you know if you would invest in some of his ventures I am sure that he would be ever so grateful."

"That is…wow," I said as the entire family fell out laughing.

"That is almost word for word what happened a few years back except it was Priscilla instead of Greg," Scorpius laughed. "She was trying to get her to wait till I hit of age to marry me."

"But…isn't she older than you?" I asked, taking a bite of my spinach.

"Yes, but Mrs. Goyle doesn't care," Scorpius scoffed.

"So, are we going?" I asked, looking from Mr. Malfoy to Astoria. Astoria sighed and looked at Mr. Malfoy .

"I am going to tell her we are getting Emmy settled in and might be able to come for dinner at a later date," she told him.

"Sounds plausible," Mr. Malfoy said. "However, if we go now we can avoid a possible dinner at Christmas."

"True," Astoria said, tapping her fork against her plate. "I can tell her we can visit a week from tomorrow."

"I will put it on my schedule," Mr. Malfoy said, taking the last bite of food off his plate before standing. "If you will excuse me, I have some paperwork to do."

"Don't stay up too late dear," Astoria called out as Scorpius continued to act all haughty and making small talk to the utensils on the table in that high pitched voice.

"Well I guess it is a good thing I got some dresses today," I said.

"Oh yes darling I do hope you will dress for dinner because in this house we always look our best," Scorpius said, pretending to toss some hair over his shoulder and licking his teeth in the reflection of his spoon.

"That is all I needed to see," I said, standing. "May I please be excused?"

"Yes, you may," Astoria laughed. I left the dining room hearing Scorpius exclaiming that he would not stand for such impertinence in his home and that no one leaves the dining room till everyone is finished. I shook my head and giggled, wondering what kind of family I got myself into.

Over the course of the next week my face cleared up, and I fell into a comfortable routine with the Malfoys. Everyone usually ate breakfast together, but after that I was pretty much left to myself till dinner. Scorpius usually when out while Mr. Malfoy hid in his office doing…something and Astoria usually spent time out with her friends or puttering around the kitchen. I usually read the paper after Mr. Malfoy was finished with it, before wandering around the backyard a couple of times. I was delighted to find that Astoria had an extensive garden filled with all kinds of wizarding world plants on my first visit, so it was a great place for me to study my Herbology. Dinner was usually spent talking about the adventures we all had that day and what was going on the next. I also played chess with Mr. Malfoy after dinner a couple of days while Astoria and Scorpius argued about him going out yet again then next morning. I did not even have any episodes as I have deemed them. It was all in all a good week. Then the day of the dinner arrived.

"Mum, do I really have to wear this?" Scorpius asked, tugging on the collar of his white button up as he came downstairs to stand in the foyer with us.

"You know how Pansy is," Astoria told him as she helped me adjust my hair piece. We went out shopping the day before to get some random things for the outfits that Astoria insisted fit with them. I saw no real need, but I had to admit that the pale green flower attached to a claw clip accented my hair really well. It also matched my strapless dress that was fitted on my top but flared out a bit at the bottom that came down to just below the knee. Astoria found cute sandals that were white that went with all my summer dresses and most of my other summer outfits, as well as a white sweater that I wore in case the Goyles' home was chilly.

"She might have changed," Scorpius said.

"I am pretty sure that you are going to have to wear that son," Mr. Malfoy said, coming downstairs in a pair of khakis and light blue button up. "Pansy was always a stickler about looking your best. Now, Emmaline have you ever done side by side apparition?"

"No," I said. Mr. Malfoy nodded and looked at Astoria. "Take Scorpius with you and I will take Emmaline."

"See you in a few, sweetheart," Astoria told me as she grabbed Scorpius and disappeared with a pop. Draco smiled and held out his hand.

"I need you to trust me completely," Mr. Malfoy told me as he pulled me in closer to him. "Now, I want you to take three very large deep breaths. In, now out, in, and out, and in and-" As soon as I let out that last breath I felt the world expand and contract around me. I shut my eyes and whimpered, gripping Mr. Malfoy's hand. It felt nothing like a Portkey. When we stopped, I opened my eyes. Mr. Malfoy was smiling down at me, his eyes slightly concerned. "You feel okay?"

"It was different," I told him, letting go of his hand. I looked around, and was slightly shocked. All four of us were in a rather large backyard of a three story brick townhouse with a tall wooden fence. The grass looked like it was one less watering away from turning brown, and the shed looked like it was rusted shut.

"Ready?" Astoria asked us all before walking up the back steps and knocking on the door. Scorpius stepped in front of me as the door opened/

"Well, look at all of you!" I heard Mrs. Goyle gush.

"And you looked lovely as always Pansy," I heard Astoria say. Scorpius went up the steps and I followed behind him with Mr. Malfoy behind me.

"Why Scorpius! You look so handsome!" Mrs. Goyle said, patting him on the back and letting him in the house. As soon as he passed her, I realized what Mr. Malfoy meant. Mrs. Goyle was dressed in a navy blue pencil skirt with a white long-sleeved button up top. Her hair was up in an elegant twist, make-up perfect, and I swear to Merlin she was wearing pearls. Those big white ones that you see on TV from shows in the 1950s were around her neck. The grin she had on her face grew wider when she saw me. "Don't you look pretty?"

"Thank you," I replied as I reached the doorway and shook her outstretched hand. "Thank you for inviting us into your home."

"Oh, you are so polite," she simpered, putting a hand on my back and guiding me into the house. "Why don't you go sit down in the living room? It is straight down the hall and on the right."

"Yes, ma'am," I responded. I heard her greet Mr. Malfoy and ask him how his business was doing as I walked down the hall. As soon as I turned into the living room, I almost puked. Everything was covered in floral patterns and lace. Even the fireplace had a lace doily on it. I shoved Scorpius over and wiggled between the two of them.

"You could have sat in that chair by the fireplace," Scorpius grumbled.

"That chair has so much lace I am afraid it might migrate to me," I said in a hurried whisper as I heard Mrs. Goyle coming up the hallway, telling Mr. Malfoy about how Mr. Goyle might be late for dinner as usual. "At least the loveseat has only two pillows with lace on them."

"Well don't the three of you look cozy?" Mrs. Goyle asked as she breezed into the room and, took one of the arm chairs. Mr. Malfoy took the lace covered chair by the fireplace, discreetly tucking one of the lace throws under the chair. ,

"So, how have things been down at the shop Pansy?" Astoria asked as Mrs. Goyle waved her wand. A tea tray floated over, setting itself on the table in front of us and started to pour everyone a beverage. It did not smell like coffee, but it looked like coffee.

"Oh, you know," Mrs. Goyle said, fiddling with her pearls and giving us all a smile. "People these days have no manners. The regional manager said I might be able to move up soon if we can ever fit me in a training class."

"That is wonderful," Astoria replied, picking up the cup and taking a polite sip from it. I picked up a cup as well and took a small sip. I almost gagged. It tasted like someone set the tea bag in the pot too long. Scorpius was taking fake sips next to me from his cup and Mr. Malfoy waved his off.

"Speaking of class, will you be attending Hogwarts this year, Emmy?" Mrs. Goyle asked, taking a sip of her tea and grimacing. I hid my smile behind my cup as I took a sip. Apparently, she did not like the taste of it either.

"Of course," I told her, setting my cup down. "Uncle Draco insisted that I spend my last couple of years at Hogwarts, for the historical purpose as well as educational. My father and mother were hesitant at first, but Uncle Draco promised that he would send me home if there were any issues."

"Well, I don't know about the educational merits of the school," Mrs. Goyle said, picking up what looked to be a cookie, except it looked hard and half burnt, and took a dainty bite. "However, it does have a great history of turning out some of the finest pureblood members of wizarding society. Have you thought about what house you would be in?"

"We would rather Emmaline not know about the house's," Mr. Malfoy told her. "We feel that she should be without prejudice going into the school year, that way she will end up where she truly belongs."

"Well, we all know what the noblest house is, don't we?" Mrs. Goyle simpered, fluttering her eyelashes at Mr. Malfoy. Scorpius snickered and set his cup on the table.

"Yes, we all do," Astoria said.

"My poor Greg has been treated horribly at that school. He says all of his teachers prefer those…other children over our kind, so his marks aren't as high as they should be, but we have several members of parliament who are pulling some strings for him. It is his seventh year, you know."

"Yes," Astoria replied, setting her cup down.

"And he is a fantastic Quidditch player," Mrs. Goyle gushed.

"What position does he play?" I asked, picking up one of the cookies and dipping it in my drink before taking a bite. It still was hard to chew and took everything I had not to spit it out.

"He is Seeker on his house team," she said as a door opened somewhere in the house. Her smile got brighter and looked even faker as she set down her cup when she stood up. "That must be Gregory. I told him we were having guests for dinner, so he must have gotten off work on time for the occasion." As soon as she left the room I spit the cookie into my cup and set it on the table.

"I should have warned you about her tea," Astoria whispered.

"That is tea?" I asked quietly.

"Don't drink the after dinner coffee," Scorpius muttered as Mrs. Goyle almost dragged a large man into the living room. His eyes were deep set and the hair on his head looked like it was thinning. He was very large, not fat just…large.

"Nice you see you again, Draco," the large man said.

"Same to you, Goyle," Mr. Malfoy replied, standing and holding out his hand.

"How about we get ourselves a nice drink?" Mr. Goyle asked him, pumping Mr. Malfoy's hand up and down and slapping him on the back before leading him out of the room.

"I guess that is our cue to start dinner," Mrs. Goyle said, clapping her hands together once and motioning for us to leave the room. When we reached the hallway Mrs. Goyle, grabbed my hand and shook it a bit. "Why don't we go into the kitchen and you can help me with some of the cooking."

"Sure," I said.

"I am sure you two know the way to the dining area," Mrs. Goyle called out to Astoria and Scorpius as she guided me into the kitchen. It was about the size of my parents' kitchen at home, but it had a small moveable island in it that seemed to be in the way more than help give more counter space. She gave me a smile. "I am going to take the roast out of the oven. Would you get the salad out of the cold box for me please?"

"Yes, ma'am," I replied, opening the cold box and taking out a bowl filled with what looked to be a very wilted store bought salad mix just slapped in a bowl. I set it on the countertop near the sink and began to shake it up.

"Did your parents go to Hogwarts, Emmy?" Mrs. Goyle asked. My mind raced to come up with something.

"My parents went to school in America," I replied, not exactly lying. Mom and Dad did attend school in American muggle schools. "They agreed to send me here only because Uncle Draco convinced them."

"Your uncle was always the charmer," she tittered from behind me. "I would have liked to have Greg sent to Durmstrang, but Gregory could not afford the tuition for it. _They_ know how to treat purebloods at that school."

"They do?" I asked, my hands shaking as I set the salad down and turned to her. She had the roast on the stove and was transferring it to a serving platter.

"Yes," she said, moving some potatoes from the pan to the tray. "I do not agree with Greg being in the same classes as muggle-borns. The teachers seem to favor them over my poor son."

"Is that so?" I replied, taking the bowl filled with salad and setting it on the island.

"He works so hard and he always seems to be so far behind," she said woefully, setting the platter with the roast and vegetables on the island next to salad. "But he is such a wonderful handsome young man. He is all the rage with the girls at school, you know."

"He is?" I said politely, trying to give her a real smile. "Well, I rather focus on my school rather than boys at the moment."

"Oh, of course!" Mrs. Goyle brightly gushed, giving me a quick hug. "I know that you cannot count on men for everything, but you don't turn something down when it comes along. I rather he have someone like you on his arm than him having to settle for a nasty little mudblood."

"Of course," I said, my head going hollow. "May I please use the restroom, Mrs. Goyle?"

"You are so polite!" she gushed. "Of course you may. It is right in the hallway on your left."

"Thank you," I said, trying to walk as calmy as possible to the bathroom. I shut the door and sat on the toilet, my arms hugging my stomach as I shook from the emotions running through me. I only heard the term mudblood once. Maggie and I were walking back from Astronomy in our second year when we came upon a group of seventh years pushing around a fourth year. The term mudblood was tossed out, and out of nowhere Professor Lorenst stormed into the group, his face full if fury. The next day, there was a school wide meeting about prejudice and slurs, and there was a zero tolerance policy in place if anyone was caught using any of the terms on the list, and mudblood was on it. I asked Maggie what the term meant in the dorm later that night, and she blushed. She explained it was a derogatory term that purebloods use for muggle-borns, mostly used during the wizarding war by Death Eaters. She told me that they wanted to imprison and possibly execute muggle-borns because they believed that they stole magic from real wizards and witches.

"I heard someone at the play group say it once," she told me. "When I asked my mother what it meant she washed my mouth out with soap." I smiled at the thought of Mrs. Goyle, her mouth full of soap. It gave me enough of a laugh to shake the fear from me and remind me that I was the cousin of a family full of witches and wizards. There was no way they would know I was muggle-born unless I told them. I took a few more deep breaths before washing my hands and heading back to the kitchen. Mrs. Goyle had a bowl of rolls as well as a plate of cookies on the island when I got back. Her smile was bright and false as she handed me the bowl of salad.

"Ready to deliver the food to the masses?" she asked me.

"Of course, ma'am," I replied, taking the salad bowl before she picked up the plate with the roast on it and followed her out to the dining room.

"That was a lovely roast Pansy," Astoria said, taking a sip from her wine glass.

"The muggle magazines do have something useful in them on occasion," Mrs. Goyle replied, draining her wine glass. "I often read them for ideas on what to make for dinner. It has made my job cooking slightly easier and improved."

"At least something is improving around here," I heard Mr. Goyle say from the other end of the table. Scorpius snickered into his water glass. I pinched his leg under the table with one hand while stuffing my mouth full of a roll to keep from laughing. The entire dinner Mr. and Mrs. Goyle were making jabs at each other and snarky comments across the table.

"Do you know when to expect Greg to be home?" Mrs. Goyle asked her husband sweetly with a slight bite.

"He said he would be home by dinner," Mr. Goyle said, pushing his chair back and standing. "As much as I enjoyed dinner with you, I am going to head to bed. I have to get up early in the morning. Pleasure to see you again, Astoria."

"Thank you Gregory," Astoria said.

"I do believe it is time for us to be going as well it is getting rather late," Mr. Malfoy said as he stood. "I have to work early in the morning."

"But you haven't seen Greg!" Mrs. Goyle said, her voice almost rising to a shriek in panic. "You can't leave until Greg comes home!"

"I am afraid my niece is getting tired," Astoria said.

"I am fine," I said right before I let out a huge yawn.

"Oh dear," Mrs. Goyle sighed dramatically. "I suppose you best get her home and in the bed. Perhaps we can all go shopping for the children's school things together."

"We can see," Mr. Malfoy said as he gestured toward the dining room door. Scorpius and I stood and walked out the dining room door. Astoria followed us out and we all went into the backyard.

"That was an interesting dinner," Scorpius drawled, looking up at the sky. "I especially like the part where they avoided talking about Priscilla."

"And when she kept hinting at me about Greg being single," I told him, wrapping my sweater tighter around me.

"I almost spewed my water across the table when she talked about how handsome he was," Scorpius hooted.

"Now darling that is not very nice of you," Astoria laughingly whispered to her son as Mr. Malfoy came down the back steps.

"Everyone ready to head home?" he asked.

"Did you drink anything?" Astoria asked.

"I will have you know that I only had water with dinner, unlike some people who forgot they had to apparate home," he replied with a knowing smile as he pulled her into a hug. They disappeared with a pop, and Mr. Malfoy came back a minute later. "Now, Emmaline first Scorpius." He grabbed my hand and we apparated back into the foyer of the house.

"Thank you," I said, letting go of his hand. He gave me a smile before popping back out. Astoria pulled me into a hug.

"You did fantastic at dinner," she told me. Another pop announced the arrival of Mr. Malfoy and Scorpius. She let go of me and gave both of them a smile. "I am going to get out of this dress and go to bed. I assume you will be up to join me shortly?"

"Yes dear," Mr. Malfoy said with a slightly joking tone.

"I call dibs on our bathroom!" Scorpius shouted as he dashed up the staircase before his mother. I let out a sigh and gave Mr. Malfoy grin.

"I will let him have it this time," I told Mr. Malfoy as Astoria also disappeared up the stairs, "but he has to remember as one of the females of the house I should have the bathroom first. After all, I am a guest."

"You aren't a guest," Mr. Malfoy said plaintively. I jerked back, slightly hurt and shocked. I had almost forgotten this entire week that I was just there because Mr. Malfoy had no choice. He gave me an understanding smile as he stepped toward me and put a hand on my shoulder, leaning over so he could look me in the eyes. "You are family while you are here, so he is treating you as such, which I expect you to do as well." I blinked rapidly, trying to stop the tears.

"I better go upstairs and get ready for bed," I told him quietly.

"Sleep well," he replied, stepping back and giving me a wide berth to the staircase. I walked up a couple of steps, then turned around.

"Mr. Malfoy, were the Goyles Death Eaters?" I asked. Mr. Malfoy's eyebrows went up slightly before sighing.

"Yes, Gregory was," he told me as he came to the bottom of the staircase and put both hands on the rails. "Pansy, Gregory, and I were friends all through our school years. When the Wizarding War started, he and our friend Vincent, who died at the Battle of Hogwarts, started to get more and more into the Death Eaters. I had started to realize that it was not what I wanted more towards the end of my sixth year, but they reveled in the glamor of it all. Pansy's parents always stayed on the outside of the Death Eaters circle, not wanting to be a full part of it but always supporting them in case Voldemort won. After the war, Gregory and I drifted apart, him not taking any responsibility for what he did and me owning up to everything. Pansy married him because he of his faith in the pureblood regime and both of them wrote me off till my business ventures started to take off a couple of years after I graduated. They kept trying to get me to come back to the circles, but by that time I realized that even though I am not a fan of muggle borns, they are do not deserve to be treated poorly. I promised myself I would not go back to the strict regulations that I was held to while I was a child. Unfortunately, Pansy and Gregory feel differently."

"Which is why dinners with them are rare," I said.

"Exactly," he replied with a nod. "I am sorry if Pansy said anything to you while you two were alone that upset you, but I fear that is what comes from being our relative."

"I am fine," I said, turning slightly. "I better rest in case Astoria wants to do something tomorrow."

"All right," Mr. Malfoy said, taking his hands off the rails and stepping back. "I will see you in the morning."

"Good night," I told him before bounding up the steps. I quietly shut the door to my room and slid down it, wrapping my arms around my knees as my mind ran over the events of the evening. The Goyles were Death Eaters, and hated muggle borns. I ate at the same table as people who believed that people like me should not even be alive, but I was welcome in the home of the same type of people and told I was to think of myself as family while staying with them. It was all so confusing. I got up, dressed myself for bed, and laid down, trying not to think about all of it as I drifted off into a broken sleep.


	5. School Shopping

**Author's Note: I am sorry that I am not really posting as often as I would like. It has been a crazy crazy couple of months with getting married and all. Also cleaning up my house and everything, it doesn't help. I am over my writers block and I might get up another chapter before the end of the weekend if I can catch up on some things. Thank you for being patient with me**

* * *

**Chapter 5: School Supplies**

I barely slept that night. My dreams were filled with images of Death Eaters chasing me down in various places. I stumbled down the stairs in my pajamas, not caring what they thought of me. I basically nodded over my cup of coffee until my fourth refill when Scorpius pushed a muffin in front of me. I took a bite and moaned in bliss as the cinnamon taste filled my mouth.

"I see that you are finally awake," Astoria chuckled, taking a sip of her coffee. I grunted, leaning back in my chair with the muffin in hand and my eyes barely open. I heard her laugh and opened my eyes a little further to look at her. "You look like you just want to crawl back in bed."

"I didn't sleep well," I grumbled, taking another bite of my muffin before looking over to Mr. Malfoy, who was hiding behind his paper as usual. "Morning Mr. Malfoy." He grunted from behind his paper.

"Albus sent me an owl this morning and said that they were going shopping for their school stuff this afternoon," Scorpius said, draining the rest of his coffee. "If we get our lists today can we go too?"

"Your lists arrived yesterday," Astoria told him. "We can go if your father says it is all right."

"Are all of you going to behave this time?" Mr. Malfoy asked, folding up his paper and sliding it down the table to me.

"Why, Dad, I am shocked," Scorpius said, standing in mock anger. Mr. Malfoy rolled his eyes. "We always behave! I will tell them we will be there and I will leave off the obvious insult that you think we are hooligans of some sort." Scorpius walked out of the dining room leaving me with the two adults. I quickly set down my muffin and grabbed the paper, opening it up to hide behind it.

"They really do better now," Astoria said.

"I should hope so," Mr. Malfoy said as I heard a chair scraping the floor. "Try to keep them reined in today. I want to be able to look at my son the next week he is home." I heard him walk out of the dining room and I set down the paper. Astoria gave me an understanding look.

"Harry did say that the Ministry will be covering part of your expenses if that helps you feel better," Astoria told me. "I tried to tell him to save the Ministry some money and let us take care of it, but by law we have to let them at least reimburse us for part of the expenses."

"Does that include the clothes too?" I asked, part of me hoping that they did get some sort of funds from the Ministry, but another part of me hoped that they bought me things without the expectation of getting anything in return from it.

"We…lost the receipts somehow in all the mix up of unpacking your new things," Astoria said. She gave me an exaggerated sigh and made a comically woeful face. "We just couldn't finish the paperwork without them."

"I have them in my room!" I told her, pushing myself back and starting to stand.

"No!" Astoria said, standing quickly and coming around the table to stand beside me. She shook her head with a smile as she sat in Scorpius's chair beside me. "We really need to get you to understand sarcasm, honey. Draco and I were happy to do this. You have to start really thinking of us as family or passing you off as our distant niece will never work."

"I guess I can lose them somewhere," I mumbled, picking up my coffee and taking a sip.

"I am glad to see you are relaxed enough to wear your pajamas to breakfast now," she mused.

"I did not feel like moving let alone change into my clothes this morning," I replied, which was not a complete lie.

"Well, I will send a house elf up when we are going out. We will probably eat out for lunch," she told me before getting up and heading toward the kitchens. I picked back up the paper and began to eat my breakfast in earnest, trying to shove the pancakes in my mouth as fast as I could while skimming the paper for anything interesting. Scorpius came in just as I shoved the last bit of my bacon into my mouth.

"It is supposed to be slightly chilly and rainy, so dress a little warmer than you usually do for August back home," he said, grabbing my mug and draining the rest of my coffee. He waved a finger at me when I started to protest. "We are going to be eating lunch at The Leaky Cauldron, so don't worry. You will get more and almost as good as this. Aunt Hannah is amazing when it comes to pastries."

"Is everyone your aunt or uncle?" I asked, folding up the paper and handing it to Pinny as she took my plate.

"Only the adults that I annoy enough to consider them family," he said with a grin. "Can I see your list?"

"I did not see it yet," I told him.

"Mum probably has it," he said, looking at his watch. "Hey, I have a couple things to do before we head out. Tell Mum or Dad if they ask I will be back before we leave." He kissed the top of my head and dashed out. I sat in shock for a few moments at the show of affection before running after him.

"Can I come with you?" I shouted just as the door shut behind him. I let out a sigh and threw up my hands. "Well, I guess that means no." I trudged up the stairs to my room to kill time before we left.

* * *

"Where is that son of mine?" Astoria snarled as she dug through her purse.

"I don't know," I murmured, rubbing my arm and giving a shrug.

"I told that boy I would be leaving around lunch time!" she said, pulling a tin of what looked to be mints out of her purse. "If he is late I will-"

"Sorry Mom," Scorpius gasped as he ran in the foyer from the direction of the kitchen. "I got caught up in something."

"Don't make excuses," Astoria growled, shaking the tin at him. "Next time I won't hesitate to use these!" Scorpius turned whiter than I ever thought a person could, his eyes glued to the object in his mother's hand.

"I am really sorry Mom," he said meekly. Astoria shoved the tin back in her purse before turning to the fireplace and grabbing a handful of Floo Powder.

"I will use them if you get out of hand today!" she shouted before stepping in the fireplace and throwing down the Floo Powder. "The Leaky Cauldron!" A large amount of green flames engulfed her and when they were gone, so was Astoria. I motioned my head to the fireplace and gave Scorpius a look.

"What was in the tin?" I asked.

"Menacing Mints is what Al and I call them," he said as he walked over to get some Floo Powder. "It is actually called Kid Kandies. Dad invented it a couple years ago when I was constantly disappearing around the neighborhood. Basically, you put the mint in your mouth for a few seconds and when you spit it out it goes after the offspring currently furthest away from the parent."

"How does it get you to come home?" I asked.

"Let's just say it is embarrassing and painful enough that you don't have to be grounded when you finally make your way home," he grumbled before stepping in the fireplace. He shouted the same thing Astoria did, and was off in a flare of green smoke. I took some of the powder myself, and stepped into the fireplace.

I hated traveling this way, but unfortunately Portkeys are expensive and time consuming since they started to regulate them more back home. This was the way everyone traveled unless it was a special occasion. I would Floo to Maggie's house when we would get the chance to leave for holidays or just because the school thought we had been on good behavior or something. I took a deep breath before shouting what they did and throwing down the powder. The green flames surrounded me and soon I felt myself spinning in what seemed to be a tunnel. A half a minute later, I slammed into Scorpius.

"That hurt," he said, steadying me and looking me in the eyes. "You all right?"

"I feel like I was flushed down a sink," I grumbled, brushing some powder off my jeans.

"Are you wearing one of my shirts?" Scorpius asked.

"It is an old one, I figured you wouldn't mind," I said, taking then ends on the front and tying them where the knot sat on the button of my jeans and showed off my black tank top. "Pinny said you hadn't worn this one in over a year."

"But why my shirt?" he asked, giving me this strange look.

"Can't a girl do something to annoy her favorite cousin like steal some of his clothes?" I teased, flicking the back of his hand with my forefinger before moving around him to walk to where Astoria was sitting at the counter talking to the couple behind the bar.

"This is Emmaline. We call her Emmy," Astoria told them as I reached the counter.

"So this is who Scorpius has been telling us about all week," the woman replied, giving me a smile that caused her round cheeks to make her eyes look like they were squinting. "We have been looking forward to having his cousin make the rounds with our lot."

"Our youngest is starting this year," the man told me, his voice filled with pride. "Sit down and have a bite before we all go out to get our school supplies."

"Aunt Hannah," Scorpius said as he plopped down in the seat next to mine. "I would love you forever if you told me you fixed your famous beef stew and I could have as much as I wanted."

"You would love me anyway if I didn't," the woman I now knew as Hannah sighed as she waved her wand. Bowls flew out from under the counter and through a little window in the wall. She waved her wand again and cups slid in front of us. "I am going to get you guys a plate while Neville tells you about the recent development."

"What recent development?" Scorpius asked the man behind the counter as Hannah headed through a door behind the counter.

"You are looking at the new Assistant Headmaster," the man said as he poured water from a pitcher.

"You got the promotion! Awesome Uncle Neville!" Scorpius said, doing a fist pump in the air.

"I will still be teaching Herbology, but McGonagall wants to start training me early. Just in case," Neville said with a shrug as he set down the pitcher before looking at me with a smile. "So, how are you at Herbology?"

"I am all right," I said, shifting in my seat. I did not want Scorpius to know the truth about my scholastic achievements. I am pretty sure Astoria had some idea since she had my book list, but testing out of N.E.W.T. Herbology in my third year as well as getting an O on the O.W.L.s in the same year was not something I wanted the world to know.

"Well, I am Professor Longbottom to those students who haven't grown up around me or wormed their way into the family one way or another," he said, giving Scorpius a sideways glance before heading out from behind the counter. "I am going to tell the kids that they need to get ready." He headed up the stairs across from the door as his wife came out of what I assumed was the door to the kitchen.

"Here you are," Mrs. Longbottom said as she floated a steaming bowl in front of each of us. I was barely half-way through mine when Scorpius upended his bowl and set it back on the counter, completely empty.

"I am going to see if Uncle Neville needs help," Scorpius told us as he stood and started to walk towards the stairs. He reached the bottom just as what sounded like a thundering herd started to make its way down. Scorpius stepped back as two boys ran past him and behind the bar to Mrs. Longbottom. The both gave her a token hug before running past her and to the kitchen.

"Don't eat all the stew!" Mrs. Longbottom shouted after them. Astoria shook her head, laughing as she pushed her now empty bowl away from her.

"Give it up, Hannah," Astoria said, standing. "I warn you, they only eat more as they get older."

"So I have been told," Mrs. Longbottom sighed, waving her wand at the two empty bowls and making them float to the back.

"I am almost done," I said, shoveling a large spoonful in my mouth.

"I am glad to see someone Scorpius knows taking their time to at least taste my food," Mrs. Longbottom said. A crash from the kitchen sent her rushing to the door behind the counter. "Please take your time." Mrs. Longbottom flung open the door and shouted something indistinct just as the door shut behind her.

"Emmy, come over and meet Alice," Scorpius said, coming up beside me and placing his hand on my back.

"Gimme a second," I said, picking up my bowl. I dumped as much as the contents as I could in my mouth and stood up. Astoria and Professor Longbottom were standing close together, talking softly with someone in front of them. My jaw worked furiously to chew what food I had in my mouth as I walked toward them. I swallowed just as Astoria stepped back to reveal the small girl in front of me. I bite my tongue to keep myself from gasping. The right half of her face looked like it had been melted off and put back on in the right place.

"Emmy, this is Alice, my youngest," Professor Longbottom said, running a hand over her fine blonde hair.

"I'm going to Hogwarts," she told me, giving a shy smile. "It's my first year."

"It is my first year too," I replied.

"We are going to get her wand before people overrun Ollivander's today," Professor Longbottom said. "Do you want to meet up at Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes later?"

"There is a Triple W store here?" I said, turning to Scorpius for confirmation.

"Ah, Uncle George will be pleased that his products are gaining a following across the pond," he laughed.

"Dude, they have the best joke candy!" I shouted, jumping slightly. "You know one of the guys who run the place?"

"George and I went to school together," Professor Longbottom said. "His children are also attending Hogwarts. Scorpius is friend's with his children, well at least one of them."

"It is not my fault Roxanne still blames me for that," Scorpius said, throwing up his hands. "Look, I will take Alice's list to the store if you want and have them ship it to the store so you don't have to worry about Alice getting crowded at the store." Scorpius grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the back. I heard Astoria telling Professor Longbottom good-bye as we rounded a corner and stood by the brick wall. Astoria came up behind us, and tapped some bricks with her wand, opening a doorway onto a street lined with shops. I followed behind Scorpius and his mother, gazing in wonder at the shop windows. The mall was nothing compared to the store windows here. There were cats swatting at silver stars zooming above them in one window, a bunch of brooms floating in front of a store a couple doors down, and even a wizard outside of his store demonstrating some sort of new toy that looked like a dancing gnome.

"We are going to take care of the books first, since I can see everyone is already in front of Flourish & Blotts," Scorpius told me as we came in sight of a store that had a large group of red-heads in front of it. A tall dark-haired male with glasses broke that looked a lot like Mr. Potter broke through the group and headed straight towards Scorpius.

"Mate, this is going to be the best year ever," the boy said, grabbing Scorpius and pulling him into a black slapping hug. "I got the Prefect badge!"

"That is great!" Scorpius said, pulling back and stepping aside. "Albus, meet my cousin Emmaline Moren. Emmy, this is Albus Potter, Uncle Harry's middle child and my best friend."

"You told me she was short, but you didn't say she was a midget," Albus said.

"Hey, I can still reach your shins ya know," I said, making a kicking motion to demonstrate. Albus laughed and shook his head.

"She is your cousin," Albus said, pulling me into a hug. I stood in shock, not really sure why this boy was hugging on me for the few seconds I was in his arms before he stepped back and headed toward the store. "Come on, we need to find Rose before she flips."

"Give us a second," Scorpius called out after him, grabbing my hand and squeezing it. He turned and spoke softly to me. "I forgot to warn you that we are a huggy people. Well, our group anyway."

"It's okay," I told him. "I suppose I need to get use to it."

"Let's make sure Albus isn't going to be buying sixteen books he doesn't really need on the recommendation of our lovely Rosie-Posie," he said, still holding my hand and guiding me toward the store. He guided me around the group of red-heads and through the doors before letting me go. I stared in amazement at all the books that I could get on magical subjects in one place outside of school. Professor Lorenst always had my books ready for me when I got to school at AMA. I could not believe I was actually here picking out my own books.

"Well, let's see what you have here," Astoria said, coming up beside me and holding my list. Her eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she read what I needed. "You seem to be missing Herbology, and your Potions books is the wrong level."

"That is right," I said softly, making sure Scorpius and his friend were not within hearing distance. "I am what my Professors call a prodigy when it comes to plants, and naturally I advanced my Potions with it. I just could not seem to get past my fifth year in Potions no matter how hard I studied when I took the O.W.L. and N.E.W.T test back in my third year."

"That is wonderful!" Astoria exclaimed, pulling me into a hug.

"Please don't tell anyone," I whispered in her ear.

"This is amazing news though!" she replied, pulling back and looking at me with her eyes filled with something I have never seen in my parents eyes before: pride. Her face lost some of its excitement when she got a good look of what I am sure was panic on my face. "But you don't want anyone making a fuss."

"I don't want anyone to look at me as the wonder kid for a while, especially since we still have to go back to The Leaky Cauldron and see Professor Longbottom," I told her. I was already imagining the man going into fits over the American plant wonder child. I was featured in all the magazines when I first passed my tests. I am actually surprised he did not recognize me before if he was a Herbology professor.

"Right, well I suppose I will get your Potions book since only seventh years and parents can get them due to the amount of illegal to make at home potions you will be learning about. Why don't you go find the rest of your books and see if you can also find your cousin," she told me as she handed me the list.

"I will try my best to keep him in line," I sighed. She laughed and gave me a pat on the back before heading to the counter. I looked down at my list, surprised to see the amount of recommended reading that I could get. I never saw a list that huge before. AMA's was just standard stuff plus a list of things that would be good for reports that the library did not carry. Maggie just let me borrow hers usually.

"Emmy," Scorpius shouted from somewhere in the store.

"What?" I shouted, wondering toward where I heard his voice coming from.

"Mum gave me my list! You get yours?" he shouted.

"Yea!" I shouted as I waved my list in the air as far as my arm could reach. "Do you see me?"

"I do," I heard a girl say behind me. I whirled around to see a girl with bright red hair. "I am Rose, Albus's cousin. Lemme see your list."

"Ummmm, how about no?" I said, folding it in half and tucking it in my pocket.

"Come on, I am sure it is not that bad. I mean, we all have the same list," Rose said, holding out her hand and making a "fork it over" motion with her hand.

"Rose, let the girl get her own books in piece," Scorpius said, coming up behind me. Albus came up beside Rose and started to guide her away.

"Come along cousin dear," Albus said in a sing-song voice. "I will let you choose a couple of books for me off the recommended reading list if you will leave our new friend alone." Rose perked up in excitement and started to babble at him about something related to what sounded like History of Magic.

"All right, let me see what you have," Scorpius said.

"How about you get the Care of Magical Creatures, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, and Astronomy? I will get the Herbology, Muggle Studies, Transfiguration, and Potions," I told him.

"Deal," he said, dashing off toward the Defense Against the Dark Arts section. I shook my head, and pulled out my list. I went to Transfiguration first so I would not have to worry about what books I would have to find in order to fool everyone I was in the same classes. It seemed to be one of the most popular subjects for people to get the recommended reading because almost all the books in the section were gone except for the actual books for the class. I grabbed a couple of the fifth year textbooks and two of the recommended reading that I would hopefully be able to convince Astoria to buy for me. Albus and Rose were in the Potions section when I went to get the textbook, so it was easy to just grab two of those and tossed the second unneeded one somewhere in the Divination section as I made my way to the section for Muggle Studies. I set the books I had on a floating piece of wood in front of the wall of textbooks and reread my list.

"It should be on the list somewhere," I muttered to myself. I looked over at the staff member that was restocking the shelves next to me. "Excuse me, I am looking for the book for Fifth Year Muggle Studies at Hogwarts? It seems to be missing from my list."

"Of course. Here," he said, picking up one of the books from the shelf and handed to me while still stocking the shelf with the other hand and not looking away.

"Thank you," I said, adding it to the stack and grabbing another for Scorpius. I didn't know if he was taking the subject, but might as well grab it. I scanned the shelves, trying to find something that looked like a good read when a cover I saw a glimpse of caught my eye. I moved to get a closer look, and my world narrowed on it. The people talking around me sounded muffled and it felt like I could not breath. The cover featured a burning of a witch, with people dressed in Puritan clothes and the title "American Witch Trials: What Really Happened and What Did We Do About It". It felt like hours before I felt someone dragging me by my waist away from the section and into a corner. Scorpius's face filled my vision and I saw him mouthing words, but could not comprehend what he was saying. He started taking deep breaths in and out, nodding. I began to mimic him, making myself slow my breathing as the sounds of the store slowly came back to me.

"That's my girl, come on, breath for me," Scorpius said softly. I felt myself shaking, my heart racing in my chest as I fought to not cry in the middle of a bookstore where some of my peers might be shopping. I didn't need to get a crybaby reputation before school even started.

"Mate, we need to move. People are giving us looks," Albus said softly. My eyes flickered behind Scorpius long enough to see Albus blocking us from view before taking in my surroundings. I noticed I was in a corner near where they kept a lot of stationary and quills that no one seemed to want.

"Right," Scorpius said, studying me for a second. "I think we need to let Mum finish our book shopping."

"Yea," I said. "I have a stack-"

"Rose got it and took it to the counter," Albus said, turning to me and giving me a grin. "If you are lucky, she will only get two recommended reading books each subject."

"She and Lily will be meeting us out front," Scorpius said, taking my hand. I nodded, letting him weave me through the crowd and out of the store. Rose and another red headed girl was standing outside the doors waiting for us.

"We need to get some robes for Emmy," Scorpius said.

"Dad said that we need to go to Ollivander's to get her wand registered," the red headed girl I assumed was Lily said.

"Well good thing it is on the way to Madam Malkin's is right next to Flourish and Blotts, isn't it?" Albus replied. "Let's get her wand registered first. The crowd will get worse in the next hour."

"Why do I have to registered my wand?" I asked the girl as all of us started to head down the street.

"Because a lot of times you can pull what wand it was off the illegal spell if you get there in time," she replied. "Dad and Uncle Ron though of it a while back and are still perfecting the technique, so all wands are now registered with the user when they first get them."

"That is neat," I said. "So, you are Lily?"

"Yes, and I am sorry for my brother and cousin's rudeness for not telling you," she sighed as we dodged some first years running down the road. "Everyone seems to forget that there are some people who haven't grown up around The Clan and doesn't know our names."

"It is all right," I said.

"If I might also be rude, you are-"

"Really short, I know," I sighed.

"It is cute really," Lily said.

"We are here," Rose said, opening the door to a shop that I could not see the sign for all the owls flying back and forth in front of it. "We will go ahead and go back to Madam Malkin's to get in queue for you. She has a large influx of students this year according to Uncle Neville."

As soon as I stepped in the door, I was amazed at how quiet it was. Everyone was milling around, some sitting in seats while others looking at various wand-cleaning kits.

"May I help you?" a witch behind the counter asked when Scorpius and I approached.

"We need to register her wand," Scorpius said, pushing me forward slightly. I pulled my wand from my sleeve and set it on the counter. The witch's eyes grew wide when she picked it up.

"This is not one of ours," she breathed, stroking it tenderly. "This is a Cresten creation. Cedar, eighteen inches, core of a…?"

"Re'em, ma'am," I said. Her eyes snapped up from my wand to give me an incredulous look.

"Where did you get this?" she asked incredulously, her voice having a breathy quality. "These wands have not been made in over seventy years, not since Emmerson Cresten died on the Re'em hunt in 1941."

"Professor Lorenst took me to Smythe's," I told her, folding my arms across my chest and started to tap my foot. I was growing impatient watching this woman fondle my wand. I never let anyone but my Professors look at it, and even then it wasn't for as long as this woman was touching on it.

"Oh how I wish Mr. Ollivander was alive to see this," the woman murmured as she went to a standing platform behind the counter. She waved my wand once, making pansies pop out of the end before handing it back to me. She made a shooing motion as she turned away from me and used a little brush to collect the residue that landed on the counter. "Write your name in the book at the end of the counter and remember us for all of your future wand needs."

"Finally," I muttered, sticking my wand in my sleeve and walking over to the book. After signing my name, Scorpius and I left the shop and worked our way a few doors down to where Albus, Rose, and Lily were standing, debating something about Quidditch.

"I am telling you, Hufflepuff is going to be the best this year! We had a real crop of winners at try-outs last year that Patel wouldn't let on the team and I am sure that Creevy will let them on," Lily said.

"Ravenclaw statistically has the best chance of being the better team, since we have more Sixth and Seventh years on it that have more experience," Rose stated.

"Hush now," Scorpius said. "We don't want our Emmy to chose a house before she gets started now do we?"

"She will read all about them in Hogwarts: A History anyway," Rose said with a huff.

"Let's get our school robes and head over to Uncle George's shop," Albus sighed, grabbing Rose's shoulders and guiding her into the shop labeled Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. We all trooped toward the counter just as an older squat looking witch came out of what was probably the back storage room, carrying a large amount of robes.

"Welcome to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. How may I- OH NO!" the witch said, throwing the robes on the counter and shoving us out the door. "You lot know the rules! No more than one of you at a time in the store!"

"Madam Malkin, that was years ago!" Lily shouted.

"We are older now!" Albus laughed.

"And wiser!" Rose said.

"I know your family!" Madam Malkin roared as she gave the last shove the propelled us out the door. She stood in the shop doorway, glaring at us. "Every shop owner knows your family! One Weasley or Potter at a time!"

"I am not a Weasley!" Scorpius jokingly protested.

"Not in name but you are one of them!" she shouted before pointing her finger at Rose. "Since you are the most well behaved of the bunch, you can come in first!"

"Yes Madam," Rose replied meekly. As soon as the shop door closed, I whirled to look at Albus and Lily.

"What did you guys do?" I asked.

"I cannot believe she holds that against us," Albus laughed.

"Dude, it took Uncle George a week to help her get her shop back to normal," Scorpius snickered.

"We tested one of Uncle George's products that turned clothing colors," Lily told me. "It was my first year at Hogwarts and I was complaining that I had to wear black robes and that they should all be different colors."

"So I decided to use the Temp-Color pellets to change some of the robes in the shop when Madam Malkin wasn't looking," Albus said.

"And I had some so I started throwing them too when Albus threw one at me and turned my clothes pink," Scorpius told me.

"And then I started to throw the ones in my pocket around the store too," Lily sighed.

"And I came in and started throwing out the Binding Bombs to try and stop them," Rose said as she came out of the shop. "I accidentally hit Madam Malkin with one."

"Oh," I said.

"Yea 'Oh' is an understatement," Rose sighed. "Why don't you go in next Emmy? Astoria stopped in a little while ago to let her know to get you whatever you needed. I told Madam that you were probably the best to go next."

"Okay," I replied. I walked into the door, and Madam Malkin quickly put me up on a pedestal. She waved her wand and tape measures started to go around me.

"You may now send in the Potter boy," she told me dismissively after a few moments. I jumped down and ran out of the shop. Astoria was standing there with a tall redheaded woman, talking about some sort of new cake recipe.

"All sorted now?" Astoria asked.

"Yea," I said.

"It is so nice to meet you, Emmy," the redheaded woman said, pulling me into a hug. I gave Astoria a look and she shrugged. The woman backed up and kept her hands on my shoulders as she looked down at me with a grin. "Scorpius has told us so much about you!"

"Thank you ma'am," I said.

"So polite! Please, any cousin of Scorpius's can consider us family as well. He is at my house often enough," she said. "Just call me Aunt Ginny."

"Okay," I said, shifting from one foot to the other.

"Good!" she said, giving me a friendly shake before letting me go and turning to Astoria. "Thank you for the recipes, I will send you something later. I need to make sure that the kids things get send to the estate."

"Bye Ginny," Astoria said with a wave, taking a couple of steps so she was next to me. She put one of her arms around my shoulders as we saw Ginny catch Albus just as he was coming out of the robe shop. Albus smiled and made a face at her before telling Scorpius to go on in. He then gave Ginny a quick hug and kiss on her cheek before walking down the road.

"Is that his mother?" I asked.

"Yes," Astoria said. "Ginny is pretty much a stay at home wife since her column only needs her out of the house once or twice a week during the Quidditch season."

"She writes about Quidditch?" I asked.

"She use to play for the Holyhead Harpies," Astoria told me. "When she had Albus, she wanted to play for them still, but having two children and the younger of the two being a terror once his feet got under him, she had to stop playing."

"I can believe Lily being a terror," I laughed as I watched Lily trying to entertain the first years waiting in line behind her.

"Not her, Albus," Astoria said, letting me go and adjusting her ponytail. "She told me that he use to do the oddest things when he got his first toy broom."

"Wait, Albus and Lily have a brother?" I asked.

"James isn't here today," Scorpius said, coming up beside me. "Albus said something about him needed to do something things at the house before they left for school."

"Joke shop the last stop for the day?" Astoria asked.

"Yea, Albus went ahead to warn Uncle George," he said.

"Well come on then," Astoria said. "Let's go terrorize someone else before we head home." We walked down the street, stopping briefly at the pet shop window so I could admire the ravens in the window. I always wanted a bird, and the standard owls always seemed boring to me, but I also knew that the same bird flying back and forth from the house would arise suspicion from my parents. Then, under the large "W" spewing jets of sparks from it, was a shop with various displays and joke re-enactments. Alice was standing out front with her father and Albus. He was showing her some sort of little pink puffball that was making her smile. When we were almost on top of them, Alice had it in her hand and was cooing at it.

"Thank you Albus," she giggled. "You always get me the best presents."

"Least I could do sweetheart," he said, ruffling her hair before walking towards us. "All sorted mates?"

"Yea, I want to get some Skiving Snackboxes before we go," Scorpius told him.

"Umm, Emmy, you might not want to go in there," Albus said, jerking his head toward the door of the shop. "Uncle George is having a back to Hogwarts special and it is crowded as all get out."

"I could help snag some of the things that you want without anyone seeing me," I joked.

"You can come back to the pub with me," Alice piped up, giving me a genuine smile. Hope shined in her eyes as she bounced slightly on her toes. "Mummy will make us some cookies!"

"I think I can handle some cookies," I said, holding out my hand to her. She took it while still holding a small pink ball in her hand. "Only if you promise me there will be milk with them."

"Mummy always gives me milk!" she piped tugging on my arm as she led me down the street.

"We will see you later," Astoria called out. I laughed, my arm swinging with Alice's as Professor Longbottom walked behind us, and felt another piece of myself fall into place.


	6. Tantrums and Trains

**Author's Note: I do apologize for the time between the chapters. I have been working on my etsy and trying to get some of my bills paid. My friend Rachel has been kind enough to read over this for me so I could fix things before posting it. A couple of things though.**

**1.) McGonagall is a "mentor" even though she has retired. She still has a lot of influence in the school since she has been around forever  
**

**2.) It is Em-ma-lyne  
**

**Once again thanks for the reviews and if you have any questions feel free to ask but I will not be giving away anything plot related.  
**

**Chapter 6: Tantrums and Trains  
**

I was swinging in the hammock near the night garden a couple days later in the week, working on my Astronomy homework, when Scorpius approached me about what happened in Flourish & Blotts. He sat next to me carefully so he wouldn't dump me out on the ground, and sighed. "Astronomy is oddly calming to me. I love looking at the stars and wondering how many universes are out there."

"My mother use to tell me that thinking about things like that was a sin," I murmured as I scratched my quill on my parchment.

"Muggle religion is a mystery to me," he said, rubbing my arm.

"You and me both," I said, waving my parchment so the ink would dry before I rolled it up.

"What does your Mom think about magic?" he asked softly. I looked over at him, giving him a smirk.

"Trying to be subtle about it, huh?" I said.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," he said, putting his arms behind his head.

"Uh huh," I said, rolling up my parchment and laying back. "My mother was not the one that was responsible for my little flip out." I took a deep breath and moved closer to Scorpius for stability.

"You don't have to tell me," he murmured, putting an arm around me.

"My father was a severely religious man," I said. "He would often have meetings at the house most evenings. His favorite night to hold his meetings were Halloween. The little ones were allowed to go to the church events because my mother pleaded with him when my little brother was old enough to understand what Halloween was to go to another local church for a harvest party since ours was dead set against it. I was not allowed since I was the oldest and I had to set the example for the children when they grew old enough to understand that Halloween was evil and I resisted the urge for so long. However, it came at a price. I was often made to sit down in the meetings with him to hear the good word. The worst one was the Halloween I turned eleven."

"Your birthday is on Halloween? That is awesome!" Scorpius said.

"Yea," I said, with a small smile. "I actually didn't know it was my birthday until I went to AMA and everyone told me that they got their letters on their birthdays. My parents said that birthday parties and celebrations were against the Lord, for we should only celebrate his birth. I should have known that they were just using that as an excuse to not tell me when my birthday was. All the other kids got a "special" day out once a year around the same time every year, except me of course because I had to help mom and stay home."

"That sucks," Scorpius said.

"Anyway," I sighed, poking him in the stomach, "my father pulled me in the middle of the circle and started to preach about how I was the example of what evil could come in. I could be doing "witchcraft" and "rituals" and that would be worshiping Satan if I were given the right influences. He kept going on and on about the ways I could be taught to do it if I was given the right connects, and how I would have to be burned at the stake if even the most miniscule thing was found wrong, just to save time since I was beyond the road of redemption even at that point."

"Emmy…"

"And the worst thing is, I ran to the tree house right after that and got my letter," I laughed, more to myself than him. "I got my letter and just sat in the tree house, shaking in gratitude that I might actually have a place away from my parents, even if it meant being an outcast from the other kids, and almost breaking down in hysterics at the same time because if my father found out I even had that letter he would kill me without a second thought because of his beliefs. So there you are, my dysfunctional religious zealot family would not think twice about burning me at the stake, just like the Puritans did to many other witches before me, and they were suppose to protect and love me." At that point I broke down in tears, burying my face in Scorpius's chest. He wrapped his arms around me, slightly rocking the hammock while the breeze wrapped around us. When my sobs slowed down to sniffles, I sat up and wiped my nose on the sleeve of his shirt I was still wearing.

"Emmy, I want you to come with me in the morning," Scorpius said softly. I looked down at him, seeing the determination on his face even though he was staring up at the sky and not looking at me.

"Really?"

"Yea," he replied with a smile. "Now lay back down here so you can tell me what I can write down on my summer Astronomy work I haven't done yet." I laughed and lay back down next to him. If I did nothing else for this family, I at least helped Scorpius make better grades this school year.

* * *

"Are you sure you want me to go with you?" I asked for probably the fiftieth time. Scorpius sighed and wiped his face with his hands as we walked down the front walk from his house.

"Emmy, look, I have something to do today that I want you to help me with okay?" he said. "Just relax and be yourself."

"What am I going to do?" I asked.

"Just help out a friend," he said, grabbing my arm and pulling me up the sidewalk to a house a couple doors down from his own. "And try not to do any sudden movements."

"Okay," I replied. Scorpius nodded, and rapped sharply on the door three times before pausing and knocking five times. He repeated the pattern twice more before stepping back. The door opened, and a teenage girl peeked out.

"Whose your friend?" she demanded, her voice high pitched with anxiety.

"She's my cousin Samantha, I told you she was here for a while to visit," he said softly. "I sent an owl saying that I would be bringing her today."

"She will pick at me," she whimpered.

"She won't pick at you," he said soothingly, taking a couple of steps forward and put his face close to hers. He murmured a few words, so soft I could not hear them. Whatever he said, it seemed to satisfy her, because she stepped back and opened the door wider so we could slip inside. Samantha walked in front of us, making sure not to touch anything as she walked through the hallways. Scorpius made a show of taking of his shoes and setting them near the door. I followed suit before following him back through the hallway and into the neatest looking kitchen I have ever seen while someone was cooking. Samantha was muttering to herself, chopping up various vegetables while a large pot bubbled on the stove.

"What are you making?" I asked, standing in the doorway while Scorpius went ahead and started to help her, chopping herbs like he was a pro.

"Stew," she said shortly, not looking up. "Everything has to be just so. So many of this, so many of that. If I don't have it exactly as the recipe calls for it could all be ruined."

"Yes, of course," I said, nodding.

"Don't patronize me!" she shrieked, dropping the knife and covering her ears, starting to hum loudly.

"I'm sorry," I whimpered.

"It's okay darling," an older woman said as she came from behind me and pulled Samantha into her arms. Scorpius quickly got me out of the room and into what looked to be a breakfast nook.

"It is hard to tell what will set her off," he explained.

"What is wrong with her?" I asked.

"Her parents were radical purebloods," he said, gesturing to one of the chairs. He walked over to one of the pantries and started to pull out various snacks. "She started the year after I did at Hogwarts. The Zabini's are extremely rich, extremely prejudice against muggle-borns, and were all in Slytherin for as long as anyone could remember. Samantha was sorted in Gryffindor, which was almost as scandalous as our year."

"Where were you sorted?" I asked innocently, by now having figured out that sorting probably meant which dorm rooms you were assigned.

"Nice try," he said, giving me a smirk as he laid out some biscuits (what they apparently call cookies over here, but they were more like the texture of scones) and an assortment of candies that I have never heard of before. He sat down across from me and pulled a chocolate bar with the word "Honeyduke's" scrawled across it. "She squalled so much she had to be put under a Calming Draught for two days. Her parents waited until she was out of the Hospital Wing to send the Howler, which sent her into another hysteric episode, saying how she shamed the Zabini family name. It only got worse from there."

"What do you mean worse?" I asked, picking up a chocolate bar that looked the same as the one he held.

"The first Quidditch game of the year, they beat me," Samantha said, coming in with a tray filled with a tea set. Her eyes were bloodshot and face puffy, but she held the tray steady as she set it down. She handed out cups and started to pour tea as she continued to speak. "They pulled me under one of the stands and my father held me as my mother smacked me around a little as well as a couple of my cousins who graduated."

"But-"

"Then, the late night visits started," she said, sitting down and taking a scone. "Somehow, the house elves figured out how to get my cousins into Hogwarts and the Gryffindor common room. They would hold "family meetings" which would go over my recent failures and inability to get on the first string Quidditch team in my first year like Mr. Potter did. When I went home for Christmas, they had drilled into me about how I was not to fraternize with muggle-borns, how I was to beat all the muggle-borns in everything, how blood traitors were the worst thing in the world, and that I was suppose to figure out how to get into Slytherin for the rest of my years."

"Which is impossible," Scorpius said.

"Finally, at the Qudditch Finals, they went too far," Samantha said, both of her hands holding her teacup. "My father and mother had paperwork to arrange a marriage to someone that I barely knew. The contract needed my signature, and the other parties involved, and we would have the entire thing arranged so when I turned 17, I would have to marry the person. I wouldn't even be allowed finish Hogwarts." Tears streamed down her face and Scorpius handed her a napkin.

"That is when she came to me," Scorpius said as Samantha blew her nose.

"You mean you hunted me down," she snorted. "Scorpius noticed I wasn't going to my classes, since he rarely went to class himself that year. We started talking, and eventually he started noticing my bruises since the late night visits did not stop. Right before we were suppose to go home for the summer, I approached Professor Sprout, the Headmistress."

"She immediately called the Ministry, got me into the foster system, and I have been living with the Cauldwell's ever since. I still have days like today were I believe that I am still home, that I am cooking things up to my grandmother's expectations, that I am suppose to be perfect. I…I know I will make mistakes, not everything has to go by the instructions to the letter, and it is okay to be friends with whoever I want to be friends with," she said with finality. She downed the rest of her tea in one swallow and looked at me. "I want to apologize. I was having a bad morning. My grandmother died a couple days ago and my family has been bombarding me with letters. I thought they would somehow get through the gates and get to the house. I just wanted things to be perfect in case they…they came in and…and…" She took a deep breath and shuddered.

"So what are the plans for today?" Scorpius asked, brushing his hands off over his teacup.

"I wanted to go through the attic today for Mrs. Cauldwell," Samantha said, gathered up the cups and put them on the tray.

"Now now I will take care of that," the older woman said, making shooing motions at Samantha. "Go ahead and go wander through the old things in the attic. Make sure that if you all find something you want to keep to take it home with you. I rather something have a new home than stay up in a box or trunk somewhere."

"Thank you Mrs. Cauldwell," Scorpius said, earning a raised eyebrow from myself.

"Do you need-"

"I said, go enjoy yourself," Mrs. Cauldwell interrupted me. "You children are leaving tomorrow and I will be at the store all afternoon. Just enjoy rummaging around my mother's things."

"Thank you," I said, following Scorpius and Samantha out of the room.

* * *

"So, is this where you run off to most of your days?" I asked as Scorpius and I walked back to his house loaded down with some nifty vintage outfits and jewelry after spending most of the day rummaging around in an attic with dust on things so thick I did not stop sneezing till Mrs. Cauldwell came up and cast a Bubble Head charm on me.

"Sometimes," he replied. "Today was a good day. Most of the time I can barely get her out of these moods. I suppose you being a guest helped. I also go to other places like this to help out some of the other kids I know that were suffering from the same kinds of abuse."

"Was Alice-"

"No," he snapped at me, grabbing me and twisting me to him, his eyes hard with anger. Both of his hands were hard on my shoulders as he bent down so our noses were almost touching. "Let me explain something to you little witch. Uncle Neville was one of the heroes of the Battle of Hogwarts. He has a lot of enemies. Somehow, one of them got a hold of Alice four years ago while we were at school. Among other things, they threw some sort of Muggle concoction on her face, disfiguring that sweet little girl for the rest of her days. Uncle Neville would never, ever do something like that, let alone to his own child. That was the main reason that I started questioning the beliefs of the people I grew up around. Then I started seeing it in people I have known for years, which is why I approached my parents about it and they are okay with some of the things I do now. Well Mom is anyway. Dad is still dealing with it, but he is getting better. You would not believe the things that went on in the pureblood households. Children like Samantha have grown in numbers, and it is up to people like me to help them get back to normal." He let me go and stormed off, leaving me standing on the sidewalk in tears.

* * *

The next day, Scorpius approached me before we left and apologized. I told him it was all right. What else could I have done? I could not go off to school with him and I not speaking. That, and he bribed me with a large box of Chocolate Frogs. I never had them before, but he must have learned from his mistakes before because they are delicious and come with cool cards. I also apologized, handing him a large box of fireworks that I ordered with the last bit of money I had left over from what Maggie gave me for my birthday last year. I may be broke, but I was sure I would survive at school since I was fed there and had a place to sleep.

"Got your trunks all packed?" Astoria asked as I walked down the stairs.

"Yeppers," I said, jumping the last two steps. "I don't know how you are going to get us both there with all the luggage."

"Car and train," Scorpius said, jumping the same last two steps I did to land beside me. "Best part of starting the year."

"And the best drama," Mr. Malfoy said, coming out of his office. "Ready to go?"

"Yes," I said.

"I have one more thing to give you Emmaline," Mr. Malfoy said, gesturing to his office door. I took a deep breath and walked into his office. I stood at his desk while he closed the door and gave me a reassuring smile.

"I have a school supply for you," he said, walking around and reaching under his desk.

"I am pretty sure I got everything-Oh," I breathed that last syllable as Mr. Malfoy set a cage on the desk with a raven inside. I quickly opened the cage and held my hand out for the bird to perch on my wrist. The bird immediately fluttered onto it, eyes filled with curiosity. I pulled it out and cooed at it while petting the top of its head.

"Scorpius told me that you were admiring them when you were out the other day," Mr. Malfoy said. "The man at the shop told me they were great at traveling long distances. I got you a male because they can carry packages farther, and I figured that with you and Maggie being close you would want to send her things…you do like him don't you?"

"He is glorious," I said, smiling at the raven and ran through the names in my head. "What about Vincent, huh? Do you like that?" He let out a caw and cocked his head to the side. I laughed and put him back in the cage. "That is who you are then."

"I am glad you like him," Mr. Malfoy said.

"I love him," I replied, closing the cage.

"Are you sure, because we can get you an owl if you want and-"

"He is fine," I laughed, looking up at Mr. Malfoy. He was smiling like a fool.

"Good," he said, picking up the cage and we both went of the office.

"Let's get going everyone," he said. We all trooped out to what looked like a hired car. The man driving got out and helped us load the car.

"You got another one this year," the man said with a smile.

"My cousin decided to help terrorize everyone this year," Scorpius laughed.

"Good thing McGonagall retired before all of you lot got there," he said with a shake of his head. "You surely would have driven her to her grave with the things you pull."

"Hey, most of that is not our fault," Scorpius protested.

"Uh-huh, in the car," Astoria sighed, pushing him into the back seat of the car. "You too young lady." I climbed in the back to seat of the car, shoving Scorpius over in order to get next to him. They must have done some sort of charm on the car because it looked like a limo in the back seat. Mr. Malfoy and Astoria followed behind us and then we were off. As we flew through the streets, I tried to see all the sights I learned about in grade school.

"We will look at all the sites when you come home at Christmas," Astoria said. "You would not believe how the muggles decorate without magic."

"That sounds awesome," I said.

"We are here," Mr. Malfoy said. All of us tumbled out of the car and started to help the driver unpack the "bonnet".

"You guys go ahead onto the platform and we will follow behind," Astoria said.

"Cool," Scorpius said, doing a fist pump in the air. He grabbed my hand and started to drag me through the station lobby and onto the platforms.

"Scor, what are you doing?" I shouted over the crowd as he started to drag me toward one of the pillars. He wasn't slowing down. Panic rose in me as we drew closer. "Scor…Scor…SCORPIUS!" I screamed the last word as we hit the wall, and went right through it. He let out a laugh as I started to spew profanities that I did not even know I had in me, but he did not let go.

"I always love freaking out new students," he said, letting go of my hand to put two fingers in his mouth and let out a loud sharp whistle while raising his other hand in the air. "Found Albus."

"I can see that," I replied dryly, rubbing my ear. Albus's dark head weaved through the crowd and reached out to shake Scorpius's hand.

"Mate, I just found out Rose is a Prefect," he said.

"Oh man," Scorpius said. "That means we might end up not getting detention this year! We might even have a free night!"

"Prefect?" I asked.

"It is like a hall monitor of sorts," Albus explained, pulling me into a hug. "So we best be on our better behavior."

"Spires got Quidditch Captain," Scorpius told him.

"Shit," Albus groaned and let me go. "We are not going to have free night at all now."

"He won't be that bad," Scorpius said.

"Emmaline," I heard Mr. Malfoy shout. I turned, and saw him standing by our carts filled with luggage. He made a "come here" motion with his hand.

"I will be back," I told the boys.

"Just look for a large group of redheads if you want to find us," Albus yelled as I made my way through the crows.

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy?" I asked, stopping in front of him.

"Here is a knapsack that Astoria bought you," he said, handing me something like looked like a messenger bag in black with a large fancy "E" embroidered in silver on it. I put it over my shoulder and nodded. "There is an envelope in there that you need to hand to Professor Sprout as soon as you get there. It is paperwork for Hogsmeade visits, permissions to use our accounts for anything that government does not cover, and information in case you need to go to St. Mungo's."

"Yes, sir," I said.

"Uncle Draco," he said with a smile.

"Yes, Uncle Draco," I said, feeling odd as I called him by such a familiarity. I don't know why, but calling him that seemed weirder than calling Astoria "Aunt Astoria".

"There is also this," he said, holding out a large drawstring bag with another "E" on it. I took it, feeling the weight of it. "It is a little bit of spending money to have till Christmas."

"You don't have to do that," I said, opening it to look inside. I gasped and almost dropped it. Inside there were Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts, but mostly, it was all Galleons. I quickly closed it and held it back out to him. "I cannot take this much!"

"Now now, what kind of doting relative would I be if I did not give my favorite niece a little pocket money to last till we picked her up for Christmas," he told me, waggling a finger at me. "Beside, I gave you extra in case Scorpius runs out and asks you for some. That boy seems to go through his pocket money faster than anyone I know."

"Okay," I said, putting it in my knapsack. I hesitantly gave him a hug. "Thank you, Uncle Draco."

"Your welcome," he said, rubbing my back a second before I stepped back. "Now get on that train and please try to keep my son out of trouble for at least a week. I want the owls to have a rest for once."

"I will try," I replied.

"Now go find Astoria and tell her bye. I will put your things on the train," he said, pointing over to where Astoria and Mrs. Potter were talking.

"Thanks again," I shouted, waving at him as I made my way over to Astoria. I tapped her on the arm when I reached her. "Uncle Draco said that I should say good-bye."

"Is it that time already?" she asked, looking at her watch.

"We do always seem to cut it close," Mrs. Potter sighed. "I better find my kids before they jump on the train and forget to tell me goodbye."

"Mum, I love you, but I am going to take Emmy and try to get a good compartment," Scorpius said from somewhere in the crowd and giving her a quick hug.

"Love you too," she said, hugging him back. He let go and she gave me a quick hug too before he grabbed me. He picked me up and started running through the people on the platform with Astoria shouting after us. "Love you both! Try to have a good year."

"Thanks," I shouted before starting to protest to Scorpius about him carrying me.

"Fuss at me when we get in a compartment," he said as we bound up the steps into a train car. We pushed through people as we made our way down the hallway. "Excuse me, coming through, gotta get through move people, thanks! Ah here we are." He set me down in what looked like a large room filled with cushioned benches.

"This is…different," I said, setting my bag on the spot nearest to the window.

"Sorry for picking you up," he said. "We always try to get this compartment since it is the only one that can hold all of us."

"Then why don't they just leave it alone?" I asked.

"Because people are jerks," he said taking a spot by the door of the compartment as a tall, lanky light skinned black boy came in and sat across from him.

"You might want to reconsider the 'I am no longer getting into family squabbles stance that you took last year," the boy said.

"Again?" Scorpius sighed.

"Yes, again," the boy said, turning to look at me. "You must be Emmy. Pleasure to meet you, I am Fred Weasley, welcome to the family compartment, and cover your ears if you want to save some of your hearing." I was about to ask why when Rose and Albus came in the compartment, screaming at each other in French. Rose and Albus stood in the middle of the compartment, arguing as Lily came in. She closed the compartment doors behind her and inched her way around her relatives. She sat by me and pulled out a muffin.

"Want one? My gran made them," she said.

"Sure," I replied, taking the muffin and watching Albus and Rose go back in forth. Suddenly, Rose whirled to look at Scorpius, fists clenched at her sides.

"SCORPIUS!" she shouted.

"I am not getting into this," Scorpius said, holding up his hands. I swear I could see steam coming out her ears as she screamed at him in French. He shook his head and smiled. "Now now Rosie-Posie, his that any way to talk to the man who is going to get you through Herbology this year?"

"He is good at Herbology?" I asked Lily quietly.

"Better at it than Rose, but not better than I am," she replied just as the compartment doors flew open and more people came in. A light skinned black girl squealed and pulled Lily across the compartment so she was sitting across from me instead. A small red head came in, immediately sitting next to Scorpius. A couple more red heads came in, as well as a dark haired boy who made his way over and sat beside me, a really handsome boy who immediately sat near Lily, the Longbottom children who sat between Fred and the dark haired boy, and Samantha, who sat next to the small red head and Scorpius. All of them were talking, laughing, and acting like Rose and Albus were not arguing in the middle of the compartment.

"Do all of you speak French?" I ask the dark haired boy.

"Well most of us," he replied, nodding toward the blondes across from us. "Their mother is French, and James and Louis use to use it as their own type of secret language as soon as they could speak. That backfired when Rose started spending more time with their Uncle Bill when her parents had to do some special work for the Ministry. She immediately picked it up like the genius child she is, and starting teaching everyone else that was willing to listen."

"Wow," I said, looking over at Scorpius and smiling to see him playing a game of Cat's Cradle with the girl.

"QUIET YOU LOT!" a boy screamed as he threw open the compartment doors. I looked at him, and saw the family resemblance in his auburn hair as soon as I laid my eyes on him. His olive green eyes were blazing with fury as he looked around the compartment quickly before settling them on Albus and Rose. "Listen you two, you cannot continue to argue over who will get the best grade in Defense this year, whether or not that Albus did something to your clothes, and who took the last cookie Gran sent for us, because I did that!"

"Hugo," he said, pointing to a redheaded boy. "You are going to give me the batch of fireworks that Uncle George gave you to test out."

"You," he said, pointing to the small girl that was sitting with Scorpius. "You were not supposed to run off without me. I am the oldest at school now so I am responsible for you! And you," he said pointing his finger at Scorpius, "are a get."

"Thanks," Scorpius said, not looking up from strings he was trying to pluck from the little girls hand.

"You," he said pointing to the boy beside me. "Prat. AND YOU!" he roared, pointing at me. "You…you…"

"My cousin," Scorpius told him.

"Yes your cousin! She's…wait you don't have a cousin," he said, lowering his hand and turning to Scorpius slightly.

"Distant cousin from America," Scorpius replied as he displayed the strings in an intricate pattern on his fingers. "She has come to enjoy the educational benefits of going to the oldest magic school in the world."

"Well, fine," the boy said, pointing his finger at me again. "You, try to not follow in their foot steps. All right the rest of you lot, prefects out of the car and to the meeting! I have patrols to assign." Over half the car emptied out of the older kids, leaving just Lily, the girl she was talking to, the two younger Longbottom children, Scorpius and the young girl next to him, the dark haired boy next to me, the redhead the boy called Hugo, and Samantha.

"Okay, who was that?" I asked no on in particular.

"That is James," the little girl said. "He is Albus's older brother. He is the Head Boy this year and his ego has gone to the roof. "

"He has always had that ego," the dark haired boy next to me said. He gave me a smile and held out his hand. I took it and he gave it a shake. "Colin Creevy, pleasure to meet you. Now, do me a favor and wake me when the trolley comes by." He let go of my hand and stretched out on the bench and closed his eyes.

"Might as well do some light reading," Lily said, pulling out an extremely thick book.

"Well, I am going to play Gobstones. Who wants to play with me?" the light skinned black girl said. The Longbottom children let out a small cheer as they all piled into the floor.

"What is Gobstones?" I asked.

"If you haven't played it before, don't," Samantha said, making her way around the kids in the floor and sitting in the spot across from me while Lily moved down. "It is like the muggle game of marbles, but with more twists than I can explain."

"How come you don't know about Gobstones?" the little girl asked.

"Her parents are a lot stricter than mine Lucy," Scorpius explained, wrapping the string in a ball and giving it back to her. "She doesn't know a lot of the wizarding games."

"I can teach her Exploding Snap!" Lucy squealed.

"NO!" everyone in the car yelled at the same time, except Colin. He was fast asleep and snoring softly.

"Ummmm," I said, pointing to Colin.

"He sleeps through just about everything," Samantha said, reaching into her bag and pulling out a book. She gave me an odd look, and handed it to me. "Mrs. Cauldwell said that you would like to read this." I took the book and froze when I read the title. It was a textbook I have been coveting for a while on the effects of plants when muggles ingest them versus magical peoples. I looked up at Samantha and she just nodded, pulling just the top of a Herbology today magazine to show it was the month they featured me on the cover for discovering how to dilute ginger into several different parts. I wanted to prove that some of the parts of the plant were useless and actually made a potion weaker, and if we just would take out the parts we did not need for that potion, then it might also have less side effects. It was my N.E.W.T. specialization theory that the society was informed about somehow.

"Thank you," I said, opening it and realizing it was new as I heard the spin crack. I smiled as I started to read, becoming engrossed in the words and pictures that were familiar while I was venturing into something new. I was so absorbed that I did not even hear Albus come in till he put his hand over the pages of the book. I looked up, his smile a mix of indulgence and amusement.

"You doing all right?" he asked.

"I am fine," I told him. I looked at everyone in the floor and laughed at the sight of them covered in purple stains. "I am definitely better than they are."

"Albus, can I have some money for the trolley?" Lucy asked shyly as she tugged on his shirt. "I forgot to get my money out of the trunk."

"Sure," Albus said reaching into his pocket and holding out a Galleon. Lucy's eyes went wide and gasped.

"I don't need that much Albus," she said, catching the Galleon as he dropped it in front of her.

"Just get everything you can with that," he chuckled.

"Anything going wrong?" Scorpius asked.

"Just some second years trying to get up on the food chain by intimidating some of the first years," Albus sighed. "Rose got the good stuff! She caught some sixth years fighting with fists instead of magic. You should have seen it."

"Oi! Albus!" Fred said, poking his head in the compartment. "I need some help to take care of a little problem with some third years."

"Problem?" Albus replied, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"They have some…questionable products they purchased from Knockturn Alley," Fred said with a wince.

"Shit," Albus said, running out of the compartment, almost knocking Lucy over and scattering Gobstones all over the compartment floor. Scorpius leaned over to close the compartment door and instead smiled.

"Speaking of the trolley," Scorpius said as a large cart full of candy and treats stopped in the door.

"You lot want the rest of the cart?" the woman pushing it asked.

"Don't we always?" Lily said, getting up and reaching over to Colin. She smacked him on the leg. "FOOD!"

"Whatwasthat?" he mumbled, shooting straight up into sitting position with his eyes half open.

"Trolley," she told him.

"Right," he said drowsily, digging in his pocket and throwing some Galleons into Lily's waiting open hand. The other kids started unloading the trolley as Scorpius gave the woman a handful of coins.

"You lot always empty the cart for me," the witch snorted. "Makes it easier for me at the end of the day though. Have a good year." She closed the door for us and we started digging in the pile. I grabbed a couple of Pumpkin Pasties and sat back, watching all the other kids go nuts trying to grab the Chocolate Frogs.

"Scorpius, I forgot to give the lady my Galleon," Lucy said, holding out the coin to him.

"It is all right Lucy, think of it as a present from me," Scorpius told her, pushing her hand gently toward her. "Just don't tell Albus about the coin and use it for something later."

"Thanks Scor!" Lucy squealed, giving him a hug before tucking the coin in her pocket. The next few minutes were filled with exclamations over what cards they got from Chocolate Frogs, who took the last Canary Cream, and of course, what classes we would be taking this year.

"I still do not understand why my father insists I take Muggle Studies," Colin sighed.

"Because it is poor understanding of muggle culture that caused conflict in the wizarding world in the first place when the wars started," Lily said. "Besides, you are the one who wanted a "skate" course as you call it. Since your mom is a muggle, you should be acing the class, not failing it."

"I cannot help that I like my sleep better than I like learning about how my microwave at home works," he told her.

"Enjoying yourselves?" James said, standing in the doorway of the compartment fully dressed in his robes with his Head Boy badge displayed proudly on the strap of his bag.

"Only because you have not shown yourself as frequently as you have in the past few years," Colin said, giving James a sugary sweet smile.

"We are almost to school, so put on the robes children and try to save some of the trolley for the rest of us," he said, pulling out his wand and levitating a large amount of candy into his bag. "If you throw yours on really quick Lucy I will take you down to Hagrid myself."

"Awesome!" Lucy screamed as she reached into her bag and pulled out her robes. Everyone else started shoving the treats into their bags so fast I could barely grab a couple of the Pumpkin Pasties. I wanted to make sure I had something to eat later if I needed to. "Bye Emmy!" Lucy said with a wave as she dashed past James, who ran screaming after her to slow down and wait for him.

"Scor, I want Albus," Samantha whimpered, her hands shaking as she went through her bag.

"I don't think-"

"I will go find him Sam," the black girl said, interrupting Scorpius and dashing out of the compartment and in the opposite direction.

"Do you need help with something?" I asked as she pulled out her robes.

"I need Albus," she said plaintively, setting her robes on the seat next to her and dug through her bag.

"I am sure I can-"

"I need Albus!" she screamed, throwing her bag down and hugging her middle, rocking back and forth.

"I am here Sam," he said, picking up her bag and pulling out a gold and red tie. He kneeled down in front of her and brushed some of her hair back from her face. "I will get your tie just the way you like it the first try, like always okay?" She nodded, taking a couple of deep breaths. He gave her a smile before starting a knot in her tie.

"Let's get your robes on," Scorpius said, handing me my robes. "We better hurry if we want to get you past Hagrid."

"Ummm okay?" I said, shaking out my robe and putting it on as quickly as I could while a train was coming to a halt. Putting a robe on while trying not to slide forward onto everyone else around you is difficult, especially when everyone in the compartment, including the eleven year old, is a lot taller than you are. As soon as all of us were dressed, everyone grabbed their belongings as we each pushed our way out of the compartment through the other students. Scorpius picked me up after the fourth time I was almost trampled and carried me the rest of the way out of the train car. He dashed to the nearest carriage, shoving me inside so fast I barely had time to register the fact that all the carriages had nothing pulling them. "Where are the horses?" I asked, straightening my robes as I sat down while he stood at the door and waved to whom I was assuming was probably Albus.

"Thestrals pull the carriages," he said as he climbed in with Albus and Colin following right behind him.

"Thestrals?"

"We will learn about them in Care of Magical Creatures this year," Albus told me as he shut the door.

"We have an amazing amount of First Years," Colin said, looking out the window on the side of the carriage facing the lake. I peered out to see about 20 boats filling up with kids while the largest man that I have ever seen was yelling and motioning for them to get in the boats. "Be glad you don't have to go over the water, it is cold this time of year," he said, sitting back and closing his eyes. "Now I am going to sleep."

"What, the whole ten minutes to the school?" I asked.

"More like an hour," Scorpius told me as the carriage started moving forward.

"Are you serious?" I asked, turning to look at Scorpius.

"We have to stay far enough from the road so muggles don't see what is going on," Albus said. He gave me a smile and nodded. "Look and see for yourself." I looked back out the window, and gasped when I finally saw the castle.

"Oh wow," I breathed. AMA was a normal campus, with square buildings just like most of the muggle schools. I suppose that was to blend in better. Hogwarts was something from a dream. It's highest towers reached into the sky, mingling with the clouds while the windows of the castle were shining bright with light and reflecting on the lake. "It is amazing!" I said, turning back to face them and sitting back in my chair.

"Yes, we know," Albus said, pulling out a stack of Chocolate Frog cards. "We have just enough time to teach you how to play a couple of games we made up for these." Colin chose that moment to let out a snore, causing all of us to bust out laughing before Scorpius charmed one of the cards to enlarge to become big enough to play on and pass the time till we reached my future.


	7. Sorting out things

**Author's Note: I am sorry this chapter is not as long as the previous ones. I could not make it tie in with what I had next otherwise. Hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 7: Sorting things out.  
**

I woke Colin when we were almost to the castle by throwing a Pumpkin Pasty at him. He snorted, jerking awake and blinking bleary eyed at me. "We here already?" he asked, picking up the snack cake and opening it.

"Pretty close," I told him, giving him a smile. My stomach was filling with butterflies the closer we got to the huge doors. Scorpius grabbed my hand, giving it a squeeze before doing a crouching walk to open the door as the carriage came to a stop. Colin and Albus jumped out and helped Scorpius lower me to the ground. Being short is a pain in the ass sometimes. Everything is sometimes just too large for me to work with or things, like steps, being a good six inches from the ground for me to safely step and not injure myself when I face plant make it hard to be…normal.

"I am starving," Colin groaned as we all walked in the huge double doors.

"You have done nothing but eat since we got on the train," I said.

"He always eats," Albus said.

"This way students! The Great Hall is this way!" Professor Longbottom said, waving us toward a room lined with tables beneath banners of different colors hanging above them. He saw me and made a come here motion. Everyone else went to The Great Hall while I walked over to Professor Longbottom. He pointed over to the wall where there were four large hourglasses that were completely empty stood a short witch with a cloud of gray hair. She gave me a friendly smile and waved at me as I made my way to her through the students.

"Now dear let me take a look at you," she said, putting her hands on my shoulders and looking me up and down. I was very happy to see that she was only a couple inches taller than I was. She patted both of my shoulders, as her smile grew even bigger. "I am Professor Sprout. You have no idea how pleased I am to see you, and not because my subject was Herbology before I became the Headmistress mind you. I have all kinds of questions for you on your theory, but we can get to that later. Do you have your paperwork that Draco sent with you?"

"Yes Headmistress," I replied, taking the packet out of my bag and handing it to her.

"Excellent," she said, taking it and tucking it under her arm. "Now, we are definitely going to keep the cousin thing going since it makes more sense, plus we will be able to circumvent any questions about who was sent in exchange if we really did have a program like that. Now, I see here you took Muggle Studies at your old school, and being raised by two Muggle parents you cannot take it. If you had one, we would let it slide, but two is an absolute no no. We will still let you take your O.W.L.s in it of course, but we cannot give you an easy class now can we?"

"No ma'am," I said.

"Well, is there a subject that we can see if you can fit into instead?" she asked.

"Ancient Runes," I blurted out. I wanted to take that but Muggle Studies was compulsory at AMA and it conflicted with the time Ancient Runes was offered. I could have dropped Arithmancy for Ancient Runes, but I wanted to take Arithmancy no matter what since it was close to Muggle math and I could at least pass that off as Muggle homework if someone stumbled across it. I could study that at home safely most of the time.

"I believe I can make that work with the level your Potions class is," she said with a smile. She put her hand around my shoulders to turn me toward The Great Hall. "I hope that you will enjoy your time here, but there is one tiny little thing. We are requiring you to have therapy once a week till it is deemed that you are not suffering any trauma from your incident."

"I don't-"

"Do not argue," she sighed, as we stopped in front of what were now closed doors. She turned to face me, her face filled with what I imagined a mother hen would look like if she had a face while looking at one of her baby chicks. "You need it whether you think you do or not. I will send someone to you when we found the right person. Now, shoulders back, head up, and eyes straight ahead. Don't want them to think you are afraid now do we?" She patted my upper arm before opening one of the doors just enough for both of us to get in, and we marched to the front. I didn't look at anyone, or anything as I passed all the tables. I kept my eyes trained to the center of Professor Sprout's back till we reached the front and she removed what seemed to be a very old hat from a stool. She gestured for me to sit and I obliged her. She then turned to the room. "I want all of you to meet Emmaline Moren. She has decided to complete her education here at Hogwarts instead of the American Magic Academy, so I want all of you to help her feel welcome. I will now sort her into her new home."

As the hat descended on my head, I barely caught a look at Scorpius, who gave me a thumbs up before I lost sight of him when the brim of the hat was lowered over it.

_**Well, you are small for your age aren't you?**_ I heard a voice say. _**Usually, when I have a student this small it is a first year, not a fifth year.**_ After the initial surprise, I realized that it was the hat speaking to me.

_This coming from a hat that is old as dirt?_ I thought, then immediately regretted it.

_**Ah, I see the fire in you. I saw the same fire in all of your family. **_

_You do know that Scorpius and I are not really family right? _

_**I mean your real family.**_

_I had family that attended Hogwarts?_ I asked in shock. The hat laughed.

_**You did not think that you were the only witch or wizard in your line to attend here did you?**_

_I never thought of that. _I knew the magic ran in families, but I never really thought about the fact that I may have had ancestors that attended school here since my mother and father were from America.

_**I would say not. Now, where to put you…**_

_I suppose where most of my ancestors were put. _

_**But there is so much more to you than them. You are loyal to those you love, what you have been through has shown you have great courage to continue to study your magic, and you are quite brilliant. In fact, all of the houses you would show great potential in if you were put there. I am sure that someone with your height would have no problem starting out as a new student in all of the houses as well, since you are tall enough to be mistaken as a first year student.**_

_ And if you don't stop insulting my height I might get a house-elf to mistake you for a cleaning rag and order it to clean the boys' loo with you! _I thought back without even missing a beat. The hat laughed.

_**That is it! The fire, the quick thinking your family all have had. You have the same thing in them they all did, just a little different, which is why you belong in **_"SLYTHERIN!" The hat shouted. Professor Sprout took the hat off my head, her eyes wide in shock as I jumped up off the stool and ran to the table that was screaming and cheering. I assumed that was my "house" since Scorpius was standing and waving me over, both of his arms stretched out. I flung myself at him. He twirled me around, hugging me tight before sitting me next to him. Albus was sitting beside me and Colin was across from me.

"I am so happy that you are with us!" Albus yelled over the cheering.

"Why are the other tables looking at me funny?" I asked Scorpius.

"They are just shocked that the new girl is in our house," he said.

"All right all right!" Professor Sprout shouted, clapping her hands. "Everyone settle down! Now, I am glad to see you all back here this year. Let's get started on the food while we are all still awake. Dig in!" When the last sentence ended, food suddenly appeared on the platters in front of us. I jumped a bit in me seat, slightly shocked. At AMA you had to get the food like Muggle kids, so this was a pleasant surprise. Scorpius helped me fill my plate with all kinds of food before filling his plate.

"Wait, where is Lucy?" I asked, shaking Albus's arm. He pointed to the table next to us, and I stood slightly to try and get a look at her. Her family surrounded her, including Samantha and all of the Longbottoms. I was happy to also see that Alice was sitting with her. I smiled, sitting back down and starting on the large pile of food that was in on the plate in front of me.

"Fred was hoping you would end up in Ravenclaw," Colin told me with his mouth stuffed with food.

"Ravenclaw?" I asked.

"The table decked out in blue over there," Scorpius said, jerking his thumb to the table across from the one in red. I leaned back to glance and saw Fred and Rose sitting there. Scorpius sighed. "I have no idea how he was sorted there though. He never studies."

"Why does that matter?" I asked, moving back into sitting position.

"Ravenclaws are known to study all the time and ace all the tests," Albus told me. "However, he does belong there since he made eleven O's on his O.W.L.s" I almost choked on my roll I was trying to swallow. Albus laughed as she slapped me on the back. "Yea, that was Uncle George's reaction too. Gran said Uncle Fred and George would have been in there too if they would have applied themselves."

"You have an uncle named Fred?" I asked.

"He died in The Battle," Albus told me, a sad smile on his face.

"Oh I am sorry," I said.

"Lily is the only family member in her house," Colin said, pointing to the table behind us. I barely turned to see the yellow banners before turning back to face the table. "It was the scandal that year, a Weasley-Potter in Hufflepuff. She was in tears till her father wrote saying that he loyalty to her family was the main reason that she belonged there. It was amusing to see her after she settled in."

"I see," I said, shoveling more food into my mouth.

"I cannot wait to tell Dad. He was in Slytherin when he was a kid here too," Scorpius said with a grin. "Do you want to tell him?"

"Can I?" I replied, giving Scorpius a hopeful look.

"Of course," he said. We all made more small talk for a little while about how many first years that were sorted into our house and how our Qudditch team would possibly do this year before Professor Sprout stood at the end of The Great Hall again.

"It is time for us to go to our dorms!" she shouted. "Please follow your prefects to your dormitories and remember to stay close! I would rather not go on a first year hunt on our first night of the school year!" We all stood, filing out of our seats, and followed the older students. We passed the staircase and the hourglasses to a tunnel that seemed to twist and turn into so many directions I could not keep track once we went left for the seventh time in a row. A tall burly looking guy stopped in front of a large expanse of a wall and turned to face us.

"Right! The password is important, so don't forget it! You need it to get into the common room and your rooms! We update it on occasion so remember to ask a Prefect before leaving the common room in the morning!" he shouted. "Now, I am Head Prefect of the house, Milford Bulstrode! Don't forget it and for Merlin's sake don't wake me unless you have a cup of coffee in hand in the morning! The password is grindylow!" The wall slid to the side, opening to a large enough doorway so we could file in three at a time. When it was my turn, I immediately fell in love with it. The lamps gave off a greenish glow, giving the room a comforting dark look. The ceilings were low, and Scorpius was almost touching it with his head as he walked over and flopped onto one of the couches. I walked over to the same couch, and perched myself on the arm before really taking a closer look at the room. Several of the students had retreated to the alcoves that were in various places all over the common room for probably study purposes and for people to just hang out I suppose. The furniture seemed to be done in the same soft emerald green fabric as the couch I was sitting on and in groups that seemed to be for people to congregate in larger amounts than the alcoves would allow. I even smiled at the skulls that were adorning the walls because it fit with the green and silver banners with what I assumed was the House crest because it had a snake featured on a really fancy background with the house name under it.

"So, are the prefects only males in this house? Because it seems kind of sexist to me," I joked. Scorpius grimaced. I gave him a dirty look and ground my teeth. "Scor, what aren't you telling me?"

"Emmy, look around," Colin said, putting and arm around my waist and gesturing to the other students. I looked around, seeing everyone and not really understanding what he was trying to tell me.

"Hey Albus," I asked as I saw him walking past. "Where is the girl Prefect?"

"Oh crap!" Albus said. I felt Colin's arm tighten around me, as Albus's eyes grew wide. "Emmy, I think you are the girl Prefect!"

"What?" I squeaked.

"Emmy, look around," Scorpius said, standing and moving in front of me. "You are the only girl here. You are the first person to be sorted into the house in over nine years. The last girl that was sorted in here was Priscilla, and even then she was the only girl here for her year. I blame Albus."

"Albus?" I breathed, my head going light from the thought of being stuck here with what were at least 20 boys.

"His brother was the one that released snakes into our common room," Colin told me, his arm seeming to be the only thing that was keeping me from falling over. "Ever since then the girls just seem to run away from this house. It seriously has put a dent in my attempts to date girls since they won't come down here for fear of seeing any."

"I see," I whispered.

"It will be okay Emmy," Scorpius said as a sharp whistle echoed across the stones of the common room. Everyone fell silent as a large dark haired gentleman strode into the middle of the common room followed by two house elves.

"I need to speak with Emmaline Moren," he stated calmly. "Everyone else, I need you to go to your rooms. It is going to be a busy day for all of you! I will see you in the morning." Everyone went through the doorway on the right side of the fireplace as I stood. Colin gave me a kiss on the head before he let me go and followed everyone else, which startled me enough to come out of my haze of shock to realize that Scorpius was standing firmly in front of me, right between me and the very large man. The man gave Scorpius a stern look and waited for everyone else to leave before speaking. "I understand the need you feel to be here, but I really would like to speak to her alone."

"My cousin, I can hear what you have to say to her if I want Professor," Scorpius said.

"He can stay," I said shakily, standing and moving so I was standing beside Scorpius and looking at the Professor.

"I suppose a witness would be helpful if things do happen. First, let me introduce myself, I am Professor Cresten. I am the Head of Slytherin House and also the Potions Master," the Professor said, holding out a golden badge with a large "P" on it. "There is suppose to be a male and female Prefect for each house, you are now given Prefect duties. I will explain them at length to you or you can as Potter if you feel that you would rather hear from him than me. As for being the only female, I have these two as chaperones for you." He gestured to the two house elves behind him. "They will help keep some of the rumors down and deter any unwanted advances instead of placing you in separate quarters. You are new and I felt that alienating you from your other housemates would make things worse, unlike some of the other staff members. Are there any other questions?" I shook my head. "Good, now good night to the both of you."

"Yes sir," I said.

"Your dorm is through there," Scorpius said, pointing to the door on the left side of the fireplace. "I will see you in the morning." He gave me a hug and went to the doorway to his dorms.

"This way miss," the house elf wearing a green cap squeaked, taking one of my hands and guiding me down the hallway. We passed several closed doors before reaching a door at the end of the hallway. The other house elf opened the door and I gasped at the beauty of the room. On one wall there was a four post king sized bed with green and silver bed coverings as well as several pillows. I had a night stand on either side of the bed had lamps and already had several pictures I had packed of y friends and I at AMA displayed in frames on them. I had my own private desk, a couch, loveseat, chairs, and tables in one corner of the room, and a large fireplace that did not have a fire in it at the moment but I am sure that later in the year I would have a use for it.

"We got permission for you to keep your bird in here instead of the owlery miss," the house elf with the blue cap said, gesturing to Vincent who was perched in his own little niche in the wall. He let out a caw at the mention of his name and started to pick through his feathers with his beak.

"What are your names?" I asked.

"I am Button miss," the house elf wearing a green cap told me.

"I am Binky miss," said the house elf wearing the blue cap.

"Thank you for unpacking my things," I said, looking around and noticing something missing. "Hey, where is the door to the bathroom?"

"It is right outside your door miss," Button said, wringing her hands. "You are in the best room because you are the only girl. We could not get permission to open the Seventh year bathroom tonight miss. We are sorry."

"It is fine Button," I told her, placing my hands gently over hers and smiling at her. "You don't need to worry about me being picky. I am use to sharing a bathroom with over fifty girls and a room that barely fits two girls let alone the four that I normally have to deal with. Can you set everything out so when I am done getting ready for bed I can pen a quick note for my aunt and uncle?"

"Yes miss!" the both said in unison. I went to the bathroom and was delighted to see that my pajamas that Astoria and I bought had already been laid out on shelves in the bathroom as well as all of my toiletries. I quickly changed, did all the necessary things one did when they got ready for bed, and got back just as Binky was setting down my inkwell. I sat down and picked up a freshly sharpened quill. Silently thanking the house elf that did that, I dipped it in the inkwell and started to writing in the emerald green ink.

_Uncle Draco and Aunt Astoria,_

_I have arrived safely at the school and have been sorted. Scorpius told me that you would be pleased to know that I have been sorted in Slytherin. I hope that you are well._

_Love,_

_Emmy_

I carefully waved the letter back and forth to dry the ink while Buttons handed me an envelope. I carefully sealed it with a wax and tied it to Vincent's leg. "Now, be a good little man and I will see if I can find you some treats when you get back," I told him. Vincent let out a caw and flew to his niche. He then darted straight up. I blinked a couple of times, and shrugged before crawling into bed. As the house elves closed the curtains to shut out the light, I smiled at the thought that I would never get over the wonders of the magic world before falling asleep.

"Wake up miss," Binky said, drawing back the curtains on my bed. I groaned in protest and covered my face with one of the pillows. "You will miss breakfast if you wait much longer miss."

"Fine," I grumbled. I wiggled myself out of the bed and rubbed my eyes as I shuffled my way to the bathroom to take a shower. My clothes and school robes were hanging up in the bathroom when I got out. I used a drying spell on my hair and made a face as the curls bounced up immediately. They were unruly some days, and it looked like this was going to be one of them. My robes felt weird since I was not use to wearing them, but it was kind of cool how they made a swishing sound one the tiles as I strode back to my room.

"Your things miss," Binky said, holding out my bag.

"Thanks," I said, taking my things and running back down the tunnel to the common room. Colin was standing there to greet me.

"I am here to take you to your breakfast mi' lady," he said, giving me an elaborate bow before holding out my arm from him to take.

"You seem to be awful chipper this morning," I laughed, taking his arm. "If you keep up all this affection, people might talk you know."

"Darling, I am always sorry to disappoint the gossipmongers, but you are the wrong gender to have them even begin to start a rumor about me," he said.

"Oh," I said.

"Mmmm yes," he said with a grin. "I am one of the few men resistant to the charms of ladies. Makes it hell on my love life, but what can you do?"

"I don't know," I told him, as the doorway slide open when we walked toward it. "We might find a good candidate at Hogsmeade?" Scorpius and Albus told me about the village while we rode toward the castle. It sounded fun.

"Perhaps," he sighed as we weaved our way through the tunnels to the foyer. I caught a glimpse of the hourglasses as we went past. Each of them was filled with a difference gemstone. I assumed ours were the emeralds, but there were also rubies, sapphires, and what seemed to be citrines or topazes. I could not tell at the speed we were walking. Colin was not as tall as Scorpius, but his legs were still longer than mine and I had to take three steps for every one he took. I was almost out of breath when we finally reached our table. Scorpius slid a cup full of coffee in front of me as I sat down as well as a plate full of breakfast food.

"Thanks," I said. He grunted in response and raised his cup to me. "Still on the second cup?" He nodded and took a long drink. I took a drink of mine before digging into the food. It tasted fabulous. "Anything interesting happening today?"

"Spires already told me that we would have try-outs today," Albus sighed. "I don't know how he managed to get the pitch on the first night, but he must have promised his first born to someone."

"I say he sold his soul," Colin said.

"Maybe he bribed someone," Scorpius said as he poured himself another cup of coffee.

"Or maybe he thought ahead and contacted the head of his house weeks ago," I heard someone say. The boys froze, all of them in mid shovel. I turned slightly to see a tall spindly looking boy with dark hair and eyes. The look on his face seemed to be a mixture of amusement and frustration as he sat next to Colin. "You will all be there, including you Creevy."

"I will not," Colin said, shoving a whole piece of toast in his mouth.

"You will, I know you are a fantastic Chaser," he said. He then leaned forward and gave me a nod. "Edmund Spires, Keeper and Captain of the Slytherin House Qudditch team. You any good at Quidditch?"

"Well, I-"

"Hey mail!" I heard someone say, causing me to stop before I said anything else and look up. Mostly owls flew above us, landing in front of students to various cries of delight.

"Isn't that Vincent Emmy?" Albus asked, pointing to the raven carrying a very large parcel with the help of a couple of owls.

"Oh hey! Care package!" Scorpius said, somehow fully waking up without his fourth cup of coffee. "I knew there was a reason I wanted you to come to school with me." The birds lowered the package to the table while Colin and Edmund cleared everything out of the way.

"Good boy Vincent," I cooed, untying his leg from the parcel and petting him before he gave me a friendly nip of affection. He flew off as Albus and Scorpius untied the other two owls.

"That is a really large parcel," Rose said, coming up behind me. "Any idea what is in it?"

"No clue," I told her as Scorpius brought out his pocketknife and cut the twine. I ripped off the paper to expose a very large brown box with a lid. I could not help myself. I reverted back to an old family joke, one of the few Dad actually got. I grabbed Scorpius's arm and shook it. "Oh my gosh, they got us a box! That is so awesome! A box!" He looked at me like I had grown a second head instead of laughing. I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Fine, open the special box of awesomeness."

"Right," Scorpius drawled, taking one finger and flipping open the box. The first thing I noticed was the Slytherin colored scarves and ties. Albus immediately grabbed a tie and did a knot before tossing it back at me. It was perfectly straight and even. Before I could say anything Scorpius threw up his hands. "I don't know how you do that. How did you pick up that useless skill?"

"I don't know ask my mom. She taught me how to do that," Albus said with a shrug.

"What are those?" I asked, pointing to the two large wooden boxes on either end of the parcel. One had my name on it, and the other had Scorpius's. I lifted mine out, and when I opened the lid Rose gasped.

"That is the new stationary set that Flourish & Blotts started to carry," Rose breathed as she reached over me and grabbed a piece of parchment with the Slytherin crest on it. "These are really nice!" She ran off with a piece of parchment to the Ravenclaw table. I turned slightly to watch as the other girls at the table oohed and aahed over quality of the parchment and crest, even if it wasn't their own house.

"Emmy," Scorpius said, tapping my shoulder to catch my attention. "I think that this is for you." I gave him a look before looking in the box. What I saw made me gasp and quickly move the rest of the packing materials aside to take out my brand new broom.

I always wanted to have my own broom, but I could not explain why I had one to my family. I usually borrowed one of the schools brooms when I needed to try out or to take the annual flying test required by the school for emergency purposes. Everyone around the table started to talk excitedly when they saw it. Apparently, a new broom is a big deal.

"Is that a Silver Star?" Edmund asked. I looked at the handle while he dug in the box for the paper work. "Those aren't released for another couple of months!"

"Might want to read the letter from Dad," Scorpius said, holding out an envelope that he seemed to have found somewhere in all the packing materials. I gently set down my broom, and tore open the letter.

_Emmaline,_

_ I am pleased that you have made it into the noble house of Slytherin. I know you will do our family proud. I am sending you the new Silver Star that the company has sent me as a promotional item to use as I see fit. I can see no other way that would fit but to give it to you for use in playing Quidditch for your house team. I will be at the first match of the year and hope to see you chasing after the Snitch like I did when I was in school._

_Best to you and Scorpius,_

_Your Uncle Draco_

"You are a Seeker?" Edmund asked, as he snatched the letter from me, the look on his face filled with hope. "Please tell me that you are a Seeker and are good at it."

"I was second string back home," I told him.

"All right! See the head of your house for your schedules everyone!" Professor Sprout shouted.

"We will take your things miss," Binky said, coming up beside me.

"Thank you," I said, taking another swallow of coffee and shoveling what I could in my mouth while the younger years got theirs first and argued with Professor Cresten over their classes. When it came to the fifth years, it was only Albus, Scorpius, Colin, and I that walked up to him. I let the boys go first and then stepped up to get mine.

"I must say, I knew your name sounded familiar when I received your records last night," Professor Cresten said, handing me my schedule. "I dreamed that I would have you in my class one day, but I never thought that it would actually happen. I look forward to teaching you."

"Thank you sir," I said, taking my schedule.

"If you have any problems ordering any of the supplies you need for your projects, come to me," he said, dismissing me with a wave of his hand. I marched out of the hall and shouted when Albus grabbed my schedule.

"Wow, Arithmancy AND Ancient Runes? What are you trying to do kill yourself?" he said.

"Albus give that back," I sighed, holding out my hand and trying to refrain from jumping to get it from him.

"Why do you have Potions at the same time as the seventh years?" Albus asked.

"That has to be a mistake," Scorpius said, grabbing my schedule. "You are also missing Herbology. You need to take this back."

"It isn't missing," I sighed, digging in my bag for my certifications.

"She is the prodigy," Samantha mumbled and handed the magazine to Albus. I grabbed my schedule back from him as he took the magazine from her.

"Wait…your THAT Moren?" Rose squealed, coming beside Albus as he stared at the cover. She babbled about how it was an amazing honor to meet me and would I mind giving an opinion on some of her work that she is independently trying to figure out for extra credit. I made some sort of affirmative noise to get her away from us, but did not take my eyes off Albus. His eyes were glued to the magazine.

"What is going on?" Colin asked, coming up to us as Rose walked away with Samantha. "I go to the bathroom for five minutes and I miss every-oh hey. Emmy you look amazing on this cover. I like your hair black though that blonde color so does not suit you."

"You are the child prodigy," Albus said, his arms starting to shake. "You are that Moren? The child prodigy Professor Cresten talks about? Every time I mess up I am told how he wishes he had the Moren child to teach and compares me to you?! Scorpius, why didn't you tell me?" Albus roared, flinging out his arm with the magazine toward him

"Al, let's calm down," Scorpius said.

"I am calm," Albus roared.

"Come on Miss Emmy, let's me take you to your first class," Colin said, turning me around and looking over my shoulder. "Oh look, we both have Arithmancy imagine that."

"What did I do?" I asked Colin.

"Albus is shit at Potions," Colin sighed as he guided me up the staircase. "He melted at least seven cauldrons his first year, and in our third year, you getting the perfect O.W.L. score did not help things. He was constantly trying to live up to the expectations set by Professor Cresten."

"What does his parents think?" I asked as he guided me onto the fourth floor and into the first door on the right. He quickly grabbed the table in the back of the classroom and held out the chair for me.

"They are just happy he is getting A's in it considering his father was the same way," Colin said. "Now, they have Divination first so that will give Scorpius time to calm Al down before we all go to Care of Magic Creatures. You and I will now get to deal with Professor Rai and her lovely numbers till then. Shall we?"


	8. Quidditch

**I hate that this chapter is once again shorter than my standard, but I could not get myself to make it longer. I could have made it dry and boring, but I rather make a shorter chapter than over-do it. Once again thank you for the reviews and sorry that I did not post this sooner.**

**Chatper 8: Quidditch**

After Arithmancy, I had a long enough break to hang around in the Prefect lounge and study before Care of Magical Creatures. Rose, who had Arithmancy with Colin and I, pointed me in the direction of it when class was over. The room was empty except for me while I quickly did most of my homework that Professor Rai assigned during the short period of time that I was in there. I was shocked that no one else used the room to study, since it was pretty much soundproof from the other students and had really comfy couches to sit on. The bell for the next class rang sooner than I would have liked, but I rolled up my parchment and made my way down the stairs to wait for the boys to take me to Care of Magical Creatures.

Colin told me that it was not difficult to get to the cabin, but they decided that me walking alone on my first day was a bad idea. Something about people who wanted to cause trouble or something. I waited under the hourglasses till I saw Scorpius and Albus coming toward me. Albus immediately wrapped me in a hug and rocked me side to side before apologizing. "I am sorry Emmy."

"It's okay," I told him softly, rubbing his back in a soothing circular motion. "I can tutor you in Potions if you like."

"You can try," he replied.

"Seriously, get a room you two," Colin drawled. We broke apart and I sent Colin a glare. He just waggled a finger at me. "Tut tut tut little miss. Thou shalt not send such foul looks when you need me to take you back through the dungeons to get your broom after dinner."

"You are trying out, aren't you?" Scorpius asked hopefully.

"I will try out, but I am sure I am not as good as your Seeker," I replied. "I haven't played in years really. Just at practice on occasion."

"With a Silver Star, you should do just fine," Albus said, gesturing towards the front doors. "Come on, I want to ask Hagrid about the properties of unicorn horns again. I forgot some of it on my Potions final exam last year and I want to make sure that I know all of them for the review exam tomorrow." We all trooped out the front doors and started to cross the lawn when Samantha came rushing up to us.

"We have Creatures together," she said excitedly. She was actually the happiest I have ever seen her when she told us that. She jumped up and down excitedly while clapping her hands. "We can be partners!"

"Yes we can," Scorpius said.

"We are going to be late," she said, grabbing my arm and dragging me towards the direction of the cabin and what looked to be a brand new large building. I tried to keep up with her the best I could since she was a couple inches taller than I was, plus she had a lot of excitement for some reason. I found out the reason why when we went over the last rise. The large man who was with the first years and the boats last night was feeding some gryphons in a pen beside a small cottage that was flush against a large brand new looking building. Samantha ran as fast as she could to the pen and started petting one of them. The large man came beside her and leaned over a bit, talking to her while pointing at the gryphons.

"She loves this class," Scorpius said, coming up beside me while Colin and Albus strode ahead of us toward Samantha. "She told me that animals don't care who you are, what you look like, or how you act. All they care about is how you treat them, and they will care for you as much as you care for them. It soothes her to know there are things out there who don't judge her."

"I didn't," I protested.

"But some people do," Scorpius said. We walked up to everyone as the large man turned around.

"Yer cousin eh?" the large man said to Scorpius and jerking his head in my direction.

"Yes Hagrid, my cousin," Scorpius said. "Hagrid, meet Emmy. Emmy, Hagrid."

"Wait, he was the one you wanted to not see me," I asked, looking back and forth from Scorpius to Hagrid.

"If I had seen ye, I woulda put ye on a boat. All firs' years are supposta get a ride in onea tha boats," Hagrid said, sending a scolding look at Scorpius, who just shrugged. Hagrid sighed and pointed to the large building. "Get ta the class buildin' and find a seat you lot. An' don't touch te' thins in te' boxes!" We all headed in the direction of the building, Samantha protesting the entire way about how there was plenty of time till class and she wanted to stay outside.

"If you are a good girl I will take you out here on break tomorrow to see the gryphons," Albus said as he guided her to one of the tables in the back row as we all walked in the door. I took in the sturdy walls and swept clean dirt floor while I walked over to the table that everyone was setting their things down on.

"Bloody hell," Colin muttered as I set my things down next to him.

"What?" I asked.

"Ravenclaws," he said, jerking his head toward the group of girls coming in the door. Rose came over and took the last seat at the table next to Samantha as the other girls went to the front of the classroom and sat down at the very front tables. Colin sneered at them before leaning to look at Rose and Samantha. "I thought that Gryffindors were in this block with us."

"They had to split the classes differently this year because of the Muggle Studies new rules," Rose replied. "I must say I am enjoying the new rules."

"Yea, what exactly is that all about?" I asked, reaching in my bag and taking out my book for the class.

"Muggle-born children were taking the class as an easy O," Rose smirked. "The complaints from parents of children raised only in the magic world with both parents being a wizard or witch made it so the rules about the class had to be changed. Children with only magic parents have to take the class as a compulsory, children, like our Colin here, with one Muggle parent, have the choice of being able to take it or not, and Muggle-borns are not allowed to take it at all."

"So, why can't Emmy take it?" Alice asked.

"I aced out of it," I blurted out. Everyone looked at me like I grew a second head. "My babysitter was a Muggle." Which wasn't a complete lie since my mother was a Muggle. Everyone nodded and made positive noises before getting all of their own school books out. Scorpius gave me a silent thumb up before I turned to the front of the room to watch everyone coming in get their seats. One of the Ravenclaw girls sent a glare in my direction before looking at Colin and giving him a flirty smile. I leaned close so I could talk softly to him. "Doesn't anyone know that you are gay?"

"You do," he murmured, setting his quill in the inkpot. "I thought you would be perfect to tell since you haven't known me long."

"Scor doesn't know?" I asked.

"Know what?" Scorpius asked, pushing his stuff so it was in front of me and motioned for us to scoot over so he could sit on the other side of me instead of having to be in the aisle seat.

"That you are a terrible liar," Colin replied. "I happen to have it on good authority that you were snogging with Summerby on the train last year. You told me that you were not dating anyone."

"You don't have to date to snog you know," Scorpius sighed.

"Ah well then," Colin said.

"Right you lot," Hagrid shouted as he came in the classroom with a large amount of the students trailing after him ending the conversation. "Figured ya needed an easy class wit' all the other Professors givin' ye a hard time of it on the firs' day, so we will be coverin' bowtruckles. Everyone, to the front fer a box!"

* * *

"That, was probably the most informative Creatures lesson I have ever had," I huffed as I climbed the steps to the front doors. "I have never had a hands-on lesson like that before."

"He got in trouble in our first year about that actually," Albus laughed. "The Ministry tried to take his post from him, but he made a bet with the chap that if his O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. scores weren't better than Beauxbatons and Drumstrang, he would go back to being just the groundskeeper. Told the man that his teachings haven't caused anyone to fail yet and it wasn't going to now."

"Since he is still teaching, I take it he won," I said.

"Dude, everyone got O's and almost everyone who took the N.E.W.T. got a specialization in something. The other schools didn't even get close," Rose said. "He didn't do anything different, everyone still studied the same amount, and we beat all the schools. It was awesome. Been the trend ever since too."

"Wow," I said.

"Come on, we can all eat before we have to go to the afternoon classes," Colin said, guiding me to the Great Hall. "It is a clear day, so the ceiling will be fantastic."

"What do you-oh!" I gasped. I had tilted me head back when we walked through the doors and saw the sky in motion on the ceiling. It was so beautiful and bright, I honestly thought I was looking at the sky.

"If we hurry, we can take you to your Potions class after we eat before heading out to Herbology," Scorpius said.

"I will be taking her," Edmund said, standing as we approached the table. He nodded as we all sat down, including Samantha and Rose, at our table. He sat down once all the girls were seated, and nodded at Rose. "You still the best at Charms?"  
"Not falling for that again Ed," Rose sighed.

"Oh come on, you are so _Charming_. Are you sure you aren't the best?" Ed laughed at himself as he picked up a sandwich from the pile in the middle of the table. "So, how has your first day been?"

"Okay," I replied as Scorpius filled a plate with food before setting it in front of me. Everyone made small talk while we stuffed our faces, ignoring the strange looks we were getting from everyone else in the room. I did not understand why till Edmund started to take me down the tunnels to Potions.

"People do not like seeing houses intermingle," he told me as we made another turn down what looked like the same tunnel we turned at a couple turns ago. "It is okay for family members to sit together at house tables, but other people? It is just now starting to get more momentum since your cousin got here."

"Why does that matter?" I asked. "At AMA we could sit where ever."

"And you were housed by year not by personality type," he sighed. "I would have loved that. You don't know how much it sucks to have people judge you because you are Slytherin."

"I can imagine," I said, watching as someone wearing a Gryffindor tie rushed by us with a sneer and into the doorway on the right. We ducked into the same doorway and I gasped in delight at the sight of the classroom. Edmund took my bag to one of the front tables as I slowly walked to the front, taking in the various tools and the racks of herbs that we had to beg for at AMA. I even saw that we each had our own cauldrons. One table had to share a cauldron back home and most of the time it had four or five students at the table. I actually skipped a couple steps to the front table. "This is an awesome classroom! I wish AMA had the funds to have something like this."

"Hogwarts is one of the oldest magic institutions, so money is not an issue once you hit the first billion," Edmund laughed. I sat down and almost danced in my seat I was so excited. I happened to glance over at Edmund and see the amused smile on his face.

"What?"

"I have never seen anyone so happy to be in Potions before," he replied.

"You are in the wrong classroom," I heard someone say. I turned a bit to watch James Potter come up to the table and stand beside it.

"No, I am in the right classroom," I told him.

"No, you aren't," he stated, setting his bag down and frowning at me.

"Yes, she is," Edmund said as he passed the magazine he must have lifted from my bag. James took the magazine and stared at it in disbelief as Louis came up beside him.

"What is this?" he asked as he peered over at the magazine. His eyes widened as he mouth broke into a grin. "You are this girl? This is wonderful! I need some help in this class! Study with me?"

"Sure?" I replied, continuing to watch James. His large olive eyes stayed glued to the front of the magazine while everyone else filed in around him. He finally looked at me, lowering the magazine enough that I could snatch it from him.

"That is not possible," James said.

"It is possible if you apply yourself and strive to achieve Mr. Potter," Professor Cresten said as he strode to the front of the classroom. "Every one, take your seats. We shall be going over some of the plants we shall be using this year so you will know the properties and effects in potions. You may even surprise me with this knowledge and create a new potion. Let's take out our quills, shall we?" James took the seat behind me next to Louis as Professor Cresten waved his wand at the board. A piece of chalk floated up to the blackboard and began writing when he spoke. I started to jot down everything I could while ignoring the pokes and hisses James kept sending my way to get my attention. At the end of class, Professor Cresten asked me to stay behind. Edmund told me he would wait for me as I gathered my things and stepped up to Professor Cresten's desk. He gave me a smile as he pushed a stack of books at me. "I procured these for you. I had a feeling you would need them if you were wanting to create some of the more…interesting combinations of potions. I had to ask the Headmistress if you could have them by law, and she just scoffed and waved her hand at me in that dismissive way of hers."

"Yes, she does have that way about her," I said, looking through the books and seeing the titles. I realized these were monitored books and gave him an apprehensive look. "Are you sure I can have these?"

"We will take care of the details. Now off with you," he told me, picking up a parchment off the desk.

"Yes sir," I said, running out of the classroom and smacking in a large broad wall of a person.

"OW!" he said, holding onto me and trying to keep us from hitting the floor. It took a second for me to register I almost ran over James Potter.  
"You shouldn't stand in the doorway if you don't want run over," I snapped, brushing myself off and looking around for Edmund.

"He went to get your broom," James told me as her jerked a thumb down the tunnel on our left. "We need to get going if we are going to make it to dinner on time. They are sticklers about that."

"You are going to take me?" I scoffed. "Seriously?"

"You cannot find your way back on the first day like most first years, and he wanted to get your broom before dinner so you could head to the pitch straight after dinner," he sniffed. "As Head Boy I naturally thought that I would volunteer to escort you. If you want to try and find your way on your own however…" He shrugged and started to walk down the tunnel to our left. I followed him, knowing that I could not make my way back to The Great Hall on my own as much as I hated to admit it. After a few minutes of silence, he finally asked what I knew was coming. "So, how did you manage to get into the O.W.L.s at thirteen?"

"Professor Lorenst," I sighed, trying to keep up with the turns as we made them. "He just put me in the room and didn't tell anyone. I took my test and they sent it in without realizing it. Herbology was trickier."

"Define trickier," he asked, giving me a sideways glance.

"I think money exchanged hands somewhere," I told him. "I barely passed off being fifteen, there was no way I could pass off being seventeen or eighteen. I just walked in, took my test, and walked out after I was done. They did not even ask my age."

"Why aren't you in Ravenclaw?" he asked me. "You have the brains for it."

"What is wrong with my house?" I snapped.

"Well, just…I just…do you honestly not know anything about the other houses?" he asked, stopping and grabbing my arm to bring me to a halt as well. I never noticed how tall he was before. He had to be at least 6'6" and so wide in the shoulders that he easily would have to use two of my robes to equal the one he was wearing. His eyes were filled with angry confusion as he studied me a moment. "Didn't your cousin tell you anything about them?"

"He said he didn't want me to have any preconceived ideas about them," I said, jerking my arm away from him. "Why does it matter?"

"Because-"

"Hey guys," Edmund said, coming up to us with my broom in hand.

"Can you take me to dinner?" I asked, stepping away from James and toward Edmund. "I am starving and want to know when the boys have Charms. I hate that class."

"Sure," Edmund said, giving us both a confused look as he went past us. I followed him, looking back only once to see that James chose not to follow us.

* * *

"Why am I doing this again?" Colin asked me as he twiddled his thumbs while we watched Edmund snarl at some third year that missed blocking every shot.

"Because we need decent Chasers this year," Albus said from his lounged position on the sidelines with us."The reserves are shit and with Yaren graduating, we need you to at least attempt to make us look good."

"He could replace the both of you too ya know," Colin said, giving Albus and Scorpius a sarcastic glare.

"If there are better Beaters out there, then he can," Scorpius said. He nodded to the field bringing our attention to the second year that took to blocking the Quaffle like it was second nature. "He is not bad."

"He is almost as good as Ed," Colin said. The kid caught the Quaffle for the last time and sent it back to Ed before flying down to the ground.

"He would make an amazing reserve Keeper," I said. "Ed would be a fool not to take him and train him. He would do wonderful next year."

"I agree," Albus said, waving at Ed. Ed flew to where we were and stepped off his broom.

"You realize that none of the kids want to replace you two right?" Ed said, giving Albus and Scorpius a look. "Did you say anything to them?"

"They know they cannot do any better," Scorpius said with a grin.

"Well, I suppose that is a valid reason," Ed sighed before getting back on his broom. "Colin, I need to out there. We are about to do the Chasers and I am not having you try to sneak out before I get to the others."

"Fine, oh wise one," Colin sighed as he dragged his _Comet 580_ onto the field. About seven more kids went onto the pitch with him.

"Scor, Al, get in there. I want to see how they do flying against the Bludgers while trying to take some shots," Ed said.

"YES!" Albus cheered jumping up before pointing at Scorpius. "Try and hit me!"

"Don't I always?" Scorpius sighed as he kissed me on the top of the head. It didn't shock me as bad now that most of the males around me seem to be doing it. The kiss felt like I was getting some attention from a big brother and that was fine by me. The boys mounted their brooms and started playing. I was impressed by the skill that Ed had to coach, judge, and block the Quaffle all at the same time. The really impressive feat was how well Scorpius and Albus managed to get so angry at each other so fast. The insults that were flying through the air almost as fast as the Bludgers were down right dirty and dancing really close to crossing the line of friendship.

"That was a colorful phrase," a boy with glasses so thick I swear they could double as bottoms of coke bottles. He settled himself beside me and nodded to the pitch. "They are really having to trying hard to get each other's goat this year."

"This is normal?" I asked as Albus swung the bat so hard I thought the Bludger would have shattered.

"Oh, this is them being calm," the boy laughed. He held out a hand and gave me a smile as I took it. "Martin King. Seventh Year Slytherin and very impressed with the fact you are in my Potions classroom."

"Thank you, I think," I replied. "You here to try out too?"

"I cannot see very far," he sighed. "A Bludger to the head is not the best thing for someone I am told."

"Really?" I said, shocked that he took that much damage from a Bludger. Magic people are resilient to damage and heal better than most. I glanced at the field to see Scorpius hit the Bludger toward Colin at a speed that might break bones, and readjusted that thought. Maybe he did take that much damage. "What position were you?"

"I was Seeker my second year," he told me. "Then the accident happened the at the first practice after our match against Ravenclaw. Goyle took my place after that and did an okay job if I say so myself."

"Greg Goyle?" I said.

"Yep, which is why I am here," he said, scooting closer so he could talk softly to me without anyone else hearing. "There was talk about someone trying out as Seeker, and Goyle is not too happy about having someone who not only has a new broom to fly on, but is also of the opposite sex. He hasn't had an competition for his spot in years."

"Well, I may not be able to beat him if he is that good," I told Martin. He gave a snort and shook his head.

"I may not be able to see the plays anymore, but I can hear what people say just fine," he chuckled. "There were talks about how you may not make it to the pitch tonight and if you did make it, you were more than likely not going to fly if some individuals had anything to do with it."

"And since you are permanently on the ground, you got stuck with babysitting duty," I sighed.

"Precisely," he said. Ed shouted something at the kids, and then flew down to where Martin and I were sitting.

"I need you up in the pitch. We are going to stage a game, and you are on the opposite team," Ed said apologetically. I shrugged and picked up my broom. I mounted it and immediately felt the rush as I flew through the air. I closed my eyes as the wind blew through my hair, a smile coming to my lips. My team back home never had to use me, so I was only allowed to fly briefly in practices if they chose to use me. Even then, I wasn't on a broom as fabulous as the one that I was riding on now. I flew a couple of laps around the pitch before finally making my way over to where everyone else was gathered. There were quite a few of the boys that I didn't know that were more than likely sixth or seventh years by the size of them. One of the bigger ones looked familiar, and I realized why as soon as I got close enough to make out the facial features. He looked so similar to Mr. Goyle that is was scary. His unibrow did nothing to help with his square troll like features. The goatee he chose to sport in an effort to probably take attention away from his severely oversized nose actually drew more attention to it in my opinion, and it was rather sad that I could see he worked out but the exercise did not reach his large belly. He gave me an appraising look before flying over to me and holding out his hand.

"You must be the girl my mother raved about," he said, confirming my assumption. "Greg Goyle. So, you going to try to give me a run for my money? Because I am sure that back home you were good, but I am better."

"I am sure," I said, not taking his hand and giving a super sugary sweet smile. "However, how about we let the match decide."

"Right," Ed said, flying between us. He divided us up, putting the second year, Luke Flint, on the opposite goals along with Colin and two more boys that were about our age with me. He gave us a whistle before someone used magic to toss the Quaffle in the air. It was really exhilarating to be flying in a game. I always missed moments like this when I was at home. Plenty of people had matches when they were home for the summer and it really upset me I missed out on that part of my friends lives.

"Watch out for the Bludgers!" Colin shouted as he ran flew past with the Quaffle in his hand. Sure enough, the Beaters on our team were not really hitting the Bludgers away from us as much as they were trying to hit me with them. I dodged them, flying over to the opposite side of the field from our goals. It seemed to deter them from hitting the Bludgers towards me and gave me a better look of what the pitch looked like. It was similar to the one back home, just more colorful and the goals being higher off the ground. They seemed a little more lenient here than back home about some things.

"EXTRA BLUDGERS!" I heard someone scream just as a Bludger flew past my head from behind me. I quickly counted six Bludgers before another one flew directly toward my face. I quickly flew towards my other team mates. Most of them were trying to dodge the Bludgers too while trying to figure out how to get them all back in their cases while the remaining kids screamed and ran off. I quickly grabbed one of the Beater bats that someone tossed up to me and flew back out in the pitch.

"The Snitch is out!" Ed yelled as he hit one of the Bludgers into a case and the straps immediately wrapped around it, caging it in.

"Right!" I shouted, hitting the Bludger in Albus's direction before flying straight up to get a good look at the pitch. I counted at least eleven Bludgers out, and no sign of the Snitch anywhere before two Bludgers flew up towards me. "Shit." I muttered, flying down toward them, hitting one back down while dodging the other. I weaved around all of the stands, hitting the Bludgers towards Albus and Scorpius while trying to catch a glimpse of the Snitch in all of the confusion. The other two Beaters seemed to just be making a half-hearted attempt to hit them away from people while Greg was flying around in circles. He wasn't trying to help at all, the prick.

"Somebody keeps releasing the Bludgers," Scorpius shouted at me.

"I thought they seemed like they were never ending!" I yelled back as I hit a Bludger to one of the cases to get strapped in. "I think that- hold this!" I tossed the bat to Scorpius and started to fly to the other end of the pitch where the Snitch seemed to be doing loops through the goals. Greg must have seen it too, because he was flying right beside me. He had a Nimbus 4k, which was a bit faster than my broom, but he was also bigger than I was. We both flew neck and neck, the Snitch seeming to tease us by keeping just out of our reach. I swear, if it could laugh, it would be laughing at us and sticking its' tongue out at us. After reaching for it and the Snitch flying off three times in a row, and almost getting hit by a Bludger, I had enough. I grabbed a beater bat from one of the younger kids and took off after the Snitch, hitting Bludgers the entire way. My eyes never left the Snitch, watching it weave and dodge out of everyone's reach. I think at this point, everyone wanted this farce to end. When I got to where I could finally make a reach for it and Greg not even get close to grabbing it before I could, I did a move that Maggie swore I should have shown to our Captain back home. I dropped the bat, held onto the end of my broom while standing up on it, and jumped to the Snitch. I caught it while flipping my broom back to wear I could ride on it and let out a whoop as I did a barrel roll to right myself. The Bludgers immediately dropped to the ground much to everyone's relief and I flew over to Ed, who was staring at me in shock.

"You were the reserve Seeker?" he sputtered as I dropped the Snitch into his hand.

"Obviously, the other Seeker was a better player," Greg sniffed as he flew up to us. "Your skills could use to work."

"Which she will get in practice as our starting Seeker," Ed snapped at Greg with a glare that seemed to dare him to try and defy what he was just told. Greg's face turned red with rage as the two Beaters came up beside him on their brooms. Ed then gave him a smile and made a shooing motion with his free hand. "Go on back to the common room Greg. We will let you know if we need you for anything."

"Fine," Greg snarled, sending me a dirty look before flying down to the ground.

"That could have been less stressful," Colin gasped as he flew over to us with a bat still in his hand. "I have a feeling that those Bludgers were being released by some of the younger members under Greg's thumb."

"I agree," Albus said as he came flying from behind us. He made the motion to have us go to the ground. As soon as we reached the ground, Professor Cresten came onto the pitch followed by what looked to be four first years.

"I would like to apologize for the way these student acted," he said, gesturing to the kids. "They were told that it would be a grand time if they released all the Bludgers they could get their hands on without realizing that people could get seriously hurt. They will be punished accordingly."

"Thank you sir," Ed said, holding out the Snitch to Professor Cresten. "I am supposed to give this to you in order for you to re-spell it."

"I saw the catch Miss Moren," Professor Cresten said, taking the Snitch. "I do hope we can see some more catches like that in the near future."

"Yes Professor," I said, giving him a nod.

"I will see you all tomorrow in class," he said before turning on his heel and taking the kids off the pitch.

"That was an awesome catch cuz," Scorpius hooted as he picked me up and whirled me around.

"I haven't seen anything like that," one of the Chasers said. "Where did you learn that move?"  
"I had to teach myself since I wasn't really part of the team," I explained.

"Well, I am Keith Flint, and this is my cousin, Andrew Smith," the boy told me, gesturing to the other Chaser that stood beside him. "You are bloody fantastic."

"Thank you," I said, looking around at everyone on the pitch. The reserve team seemed to be stand-offish, trying to be a part of the team but clearly not wanting to associate with us.

"Hey, let's get back to the common room before curfew," Scorpius said, pointing to the darkening sky. "I rather not get detention this early in the year."

"And I have studying to do," Ed sighed, taking my broom and tucking it under his arm. "Come along everyone, we might even be able to celebrate a bit if we hurry."

"Lemme grab Martin," I said, skipping over to where I left him and smiled to see him leaning back with his eyes closed. I stood over him so my face was directly above his, and tapped him on the forehead. He opened his eyes and smiled up at me. I smiled back. "You ready?"

"Yes," he said, jumping up as soon as I jumped back. He held out his arm for me to take before we walked over to my team. I smiled, filled with the hope that my luck may not end as soon as I thought, and walked with my team back to the castle.


	9. Therapies of a Different Kind

**Author's Note: I apologize for this chapter being so dry and drawn out, but I could not stop myself. I love this chapter. It is so, emotional I want to say. This may be my last chapter for a while since I want to expand my etsy shop and get some money thing taken care of, but I may just forgo etsy and write some more. Please review and let me know what you think!**

**Chapter 9: Therapies of a Different Kind**

"So, tell me why we are patrolling the main floor again?" I asked Albus as we went down a hallway on the right side of the staircase. It was a couple days after Quidditch try-outs, and we were fulfilling our obligations for Prefects for the first time before the weekend began. He told me that we had to go through the corridors and make sure the no one was out after the curfew or causing trouble on our assigned nights. The teachers did this at AMA, and students were not allowed anywhere but the bathrooms past ten. Then again, we started class at eight in the morning and not nine, so late nights were few and far between.

"Because it is the easiest floor," he said with a grin. "My brother is hoping that you will be able to give me some tutoring in Potions if we are assigned the easiest patrols. My father is hoping that I will pull an E in Potions so I can take it as a N.E.W.T. class next year."

"I guess that is an even trade off," I replied as I held out my wand and lit it. Albus jumped away from me in shock and swore.

"You can cast spells non-verbally already?" he asked.

"It is a gift," I replied in a dismissive tone. I didn't tell him that it was born of the necessity that I would cast spells in my room at night to practice since I had that special little wavier that said I could cast spells under parental supervision, even if my parents were not supervising my magic. If my parents had heard anything I said or saw my spells, it would have meant trouble for me. Albus had no reason to know that little bit of information.

"You can barely cast a glow charm but you can cast spells without uttering a sound," he sighed. He stopped as he pulled a playing card out of his pocket and waved his wand. "_Loco Motoris._" The playing card started to dance in his palm, working its way up his arm and onto his shoulder. He let it dance there for a few more minutes before waving his wand and saying the counter spell.

"Bravo!" I said, clapping my hands and laughing at him as Albus gave me an elaborate while tucking the card in his pocket. "I have never been able to do something like that."

"My mother is actually quite pleased I am good at Charms," Albus said giving me a smile and gesturing down a hallway on our right. "She said it takes real skill to Charm an object and have it hold for long periods of time. Dad just tells me that he remembers certain Charms that saved the lives of some important people. Granny Longbottom, however, does not feel the same."

"Professor Longbottom's mother?" I asked.

"She thinks it is a "soft" option," he chuckled as he reached up and tickled a pear on the painting of food near us. It popped open and he gestured inside. "Uncle Neville won't tell us why, but we are pretty sure from the looks of some of her spells that we have seen gone wrong that she is not all that great with them herself."

"Please tell me Rose didn't try to help her," I replied, following him down the hallway.

"After the first time, no," Albus said.

"Do I want to know what happened?" I asked as I put out my wand and tucked it in my robes when I saw light starting to come from around a corner up ahead of us.

"No, you don't," he said. We turned the corner and I found myself in the Hogwarts kitchen. House elves bustled about me, begging my pardon and offering various plates of treats to me, as Albus brought me to a table in a corner out of the commotion. "I thought we could use a bite to eat while we went over the basic herb cutting techniques and uses. I am told that the way some herbs are cut, even by the smallest amount, can make a difference."

"Oh yea!" I said. "Sometimes you have to play with Potions just to get the right answer and even improve what the recipe calls for."

"Really?" he asked, gesturing to a passing house elf.

"Yes, you can even change a whole Potion. For example, you could be brewing something that would cause the person to sleep for a few hours, but if you cut the knotyar seeds and put the juice in the potion instead of the whole seed, it could cause someone to sleep for days," I told him. The house elves set a spread of food in front of us on the table, and somehow found a quill and parchment for me to write down everything for Albus. We worked and ate for a few hours, not even noticing how long it had been till Rose walked in the kitchens.

"Hey, patrol time are almost over," she told us, looking at the table with a smile and picking up a muffin. "I see that Albus has made the house elves once again feed him an extra meal."

"Emmy ate most of this," Albus said.

"I did?" I asked, blinking and realized the amount of empty plates in front of us. Most of them were in front of me more than Albus, and my stomach felt like it was about to burst. I looked at Albus and he gave me an indulgent smile as he stood. He held out his hand to me with a wink.

"How about we get back to the dorms so we can sleep before class in the morning?" he said. I took his hand, standing while gathering the parchment with my free hand before walking with him to the tunnel we arrived in earlier. "After all, some of us have a hard class in the morning."

"Ancient Runes aren't hard!" Rose exclaimed as she walked out with us.

"And picking them up two years in isn't hard either," I told him.

"Why aren't you in Ravenclaw again?" she asked.

"Ask the hat," I sighed. She had to be the fifth person to ask me today why I wasn't in that house. It was getting old being asked that question. I thought about spelling some of my robes to have that on the back, but that was against dress code and I rather not have detention for something stupid like that.

"Well, I am off to my house," Rose chirped as she ran ahead of us and out the portrait hole. Albus held the portrait for me as I climbed out while fishing around in my robes for my wand. I lit it up and held it out while we made our way back down the corridor to the main entrance and staircase.

"Thanks for the lesson," Albus told me as we crossed the corridors in front of staircase.

"Thanks for showing me how to get to the kitchens," I replied.

"We have known about it for years," Albus said. "We started to take people there when we realized that most of our house wasn't eating properly."

"Wait, was that what this was all about?" I said, stopping underneath the hourglasses and picturing all of the empty plates in front of me after we had finished with the tutoring. "Were you just trying to get me to eat more under the guise of giving you a Potions lesson?"

"No, yes, I mean, look," Albus sighed and ran his hand through his spiky black hair. "Scorpius said that your parents were bit of fanatics okay? In Second year, Scorpius and I noticed a trend with the children in the pureblood households. They would only pick at their food and eat the bare minimum to stave off the hunger until the next meal. It was always worse with the girls when we had them. They would barely eat at all. We finally asked James for help in getting them all food when we had classmates that would not stop passing out or were failing because they were so hungry they could not concentrate on their work."

"Finally, we made a system. Martin was good at getting past all the Prefects, and Priscilla was great about looking the other way as long as she had this patrol down here. On days that we had Astronomy, Ed and Martin would take them down to the kitchens and make them eat more. Colin started to go to the kitchens on his breaks in between class and storing food in his fabulous trunk his parents made for him. Scorpius and I got lots of detentions from pulling pranks to get the kids past the Prefects while Ed's brother Ethan snuck the kids who were too scare to even eat dinner down the corridor. Sometimes he had to take twenty kids or more. We couldn't just sneak that many. We had to walk them."

"Why were they so scared to eat?" I asked. My reason was my family put pressure on me to not eat so much so the younger kids could have more food, and at school I pretty much kept up the trend so I would not get use to eating so much. I ate less and less as the years went by since Mom and Dad kept having more children and money was tight since Dad worked for the church at minimal pay. From what I could tell, most of the pureblood households had oodles of cash and didn't need to worry about spending too much on food.

"Emmy, have you ever ate with someone who watched every move you made all day long, scrutinizing every action and word that comes out of your mouth?" he said, grabbing my arm and gently guiding me to the tunnels that lead to our dorms. "By the time you eat a small portion of what is in front of you, all you want to do is get away from the table before you do something to upset them. Because we have magic it makes our metabolism higher and we have to eat more. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen people come in and be nothing but skin and bones. Once they got comfortable eating more food, they started to eat more at home too. It just took people like us to help them."

"That is very observant of you," I said, walking in front of him so I could light the corridor. "You and Scorpius have a knack for helping people, don't you?"

"We try our best," he chuckled as he turned me away from the tunnel I thought would take us to our dorms. "However observant we are Emmy, I hate to break it to you, but we weren't the ones who noticed you weren't eating."

"Then who-"

"Oh look, the tunnels changed! Here is our dorm, grindylow!" he shouted. Much to my surprise and anger, the wall opened to display the walkway to the common room.

"I almost had that way memorize!" I wailed as Albus pushed me into the common room. "Are you telling me that I even if I memorize the way back to the dorm it could change in an instant?!"

"Ah, first time the corridors changed on her," Colin said, his face displaying an amused smile as he held up his Herbology homework from a lounged position on a couch by the fire. "Can you check this essay for me? I want to be done with it before tomorrow since we have practice in the morning, bright and early."

"Are you kidding me?" I huffed, snatching the essay out of Colin's hand and skimming it before handing it back to him. "It is fine. Just do some work on the grammar and add a couple of lines about the importance of using gillyweed in an actual potion instead of just eating it whole."

"Dad ate gillyweed," Albus told me with a grin.

"Yes, I know," I sighed, and adjusted my bag to give Scorpius a sideways hug since he was busy writing in one of the chairs. "I am going to bed. Ed would not appreciate it if I fell off my broom from exhaustion."

"Night Emmy," Scorpius said absently as he scratched away at the parchment.

"Night Scor," I yawned as I walked down the corridor to my dorm. I didn't realize till much later after I was almost asleep that I never had the chance to ask Albus who noticed how much I ate.

* * *

"My whole body hurts," Colin whined as we trudged through the castle doors. "Ed is such a slave driver."

"I think he is brilliant," I gasped, still trying to catch my breath.

"Well, we have the rest of the day to relax," Scorpius sighed as he took my broom from me.

"I am looking forward to napping," Albus said.

"Did you forget you promised Samantha you would help her with her Defense homework?" Scorpius asked as we walked past the hourglasses.

"She knows to send an house elf for me," Albus told us.

"Emmaline," James said from the bottom of the stairway. I turned from the entrance to the corridors for our dorm to face him with my arms crossed over my chest. He raised an eyebrow and pointed up the stairs. "The Headmistress sent me to tell you that you have a meeting you need to attend."

"You have some sort of Herbology society interview we don't know about?" Colin teasingly asked me as he poked my side. I laughed and swatted him away before walking toward James.

"I will see you guys later," I said. I didn't want to tell them that I had to do therapy. How would I explain to everyone but Scorpius that I had to do it? It was better to just keep them out of it for now. I bound up the stairs behind James, trying hard to keep up with him as he turned and twisted up various staircases. He did not look at me once the whole time to see if I was back there or keeping up. When he abruptly stopped in front of a portrait featuring a man holding up a head of what looked to be an ogre, I almost ran into him.

"I will come back to get you in an hour," he ground out, only turning his head slightly to look back at me and continued to walked down the corridor.

"Don't I even get the password?" I shouted after him. He did not even slow down as he turned the corner. I sighed and ran my hand through my curls. "Great, now what?"

"Do you have an appointment?" the man in the painting said, causing me to jump out of shock. We never had anything like the portraits here back at AMA and it still made me feel uneasy that they could talk to me. The man in the painting gave me a bored look and sniffed. "Well, do you or do you not have an appointment? I cannot let you just stand here all day with everyone else that might come by you know. I hang in front of a very important room."

"Umm," I said, trying to think of something to tell him.

"I am sorry I don't have an appointment for anyone named Umm," he snapped before resuming his pose.

"My name is Emmaline Moren, and the Headmistress sent me here," I snapped back. He looked down his nose before sniffing at me again and letting the portrait swing out towards me.

"You don't have to be so rude about it," he drawled as I climbed through the hole and closing it behind me. I turned to see a well dress man sitting behind a desk stacked with books and giving me an amused look behind his glasses.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

"Quite all right," the man chuckled as he gestured to the entire room. "This is your space while you are here with me. You can act, speak, think, and do anything you want, within reason that is," he said that last bit looking over the rims of his glasses and giving me a knowing stare. I shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other before looking away and wandering around the office as he continued to speak. "My name is Doctor Kevin Whitby. I was once a student at Hogwarts many years ago. I am often told that I look too young to be a doctor but I assure you I am one."

"And I am often told that I am too young to have aced out of Herbology at thirteen," I said softly, running my hands over the binding of various books that were set out on one of the tables. He laughed a bit.

"We all have our areas of expertise," he told me.

"So, did they tell you why I have to see you?" I said, moving to one of the chairs near his desk and sitting down.

"I know what the reports tell me, but do you know why you have to see me?" he asked. I shrugged, not looking at him as I dug through my bag aimlessly. I didn't want to look at him or talk to him about what happened. I heard his chair creak, probably from him leaning back in it. I pulled out a quill and parchment, and used one of the books as I had in my bag to start doodling. We sat like that for quite some time, me drawing and him just sitting at his desk in silence. I even heard the scratch of a quill at his desk after a few minutes. It was nerve wracking to me to know that he wasn't pushing, trying to get me to admit anything about what I was feeling. If he was a therapist, wasn't he supposed to be asking me all kinds of questions about what was going on in my head and how I felt about my family? It actually pissed me off.

"I hate my mother," I blurted out, surprised how easily that came out.

"Why do you say that?" he asked, sounding just interested enough to let me know that he was willing to listen. His tone just scraped at my nerves and made my anger worse.

"She just stood there," I said, gripping my quill so hard it snapped in half as I continued to finally admit what was in my heart. "My father almost killed me with one of those stupid rocks they had in the fountains to make it look more like a garden at that stupid mall. She was more concerned about protecting the little ones that my father wasn't even noticing than me, the one in trouble. All those magic outburst that I had when I was younger that she saw, she could have just given me up for adoption or something. Instead, she turned a blind eye to it and look at what happened? Merlin, I bet she even knew about me attending magic school! But she stood there, watching as my father beat me for being a witch, and didn't even care. She didn't even try to protect me."

"Isn't that what mothers are supposed to do with their kids?" I laughed hysterically, ignoring the tears and the way I was starting to shake while my words just started to flow. "I mean, she smacked the shit out of me when I was six because my dolls started to dance from my first magically outburst that I can remember. Maybe she really hated me, because she seemed to resent me. I always had to beg to get clothes that fit. My brothers and sisters were the first to get presents for doing something right while if I did the slightest thing wrong or one little thing for myself, it was like I committed some sort of a cardinal sin! She even celebrated their birthdays with them, but didn't tell me when I was born. I had to find out from my professors as AMA."

"But all of that, all of that I will forgive her for, because she is my mother," I sobbed, finally letting go of what I had been letting fester since I woke up in St. Mungo's. "I still hold onto hope that she will let me hug her without flinching, that she won't look at me with this wistful look in her eye that says she wishes I were more like her other children, that maybe, just maybe she can tell me she is proud of me for being a wonderful kid instead of treating me like I was somehow broken. I love her more than anything in this world, and she would have just let me die that day. I bet it would have made her happy."

"I don't think that is true," Dr. Whitby said, his chair creaking as I heard it scoot back. I stood, finally looking at him and almost getting sick over the pity I saw on his face. It may not have been all pity, but that is all I saw as he tried to walk toward me.

"Yes it is!" I wailed, dropping my broken quill and the parchment I was drawing on. "If she had died she wouldn't have to think about me anymore. She wouldn't even have to bother herself with the fact that she had another daughter. She could have forgotten about me and lived her life knowing that I wasn't her problem anymore!" I screamed that last word and ran out of his off, ignoring his calls to not leave. I didn't want to be in that room anymore. I needed somewhere I could hide, that I could be away from everyone that would just pester me to find out what is wrong. I don't remember trying to head there, but I found myself standing in the Hogwarts kitchen, being stared at by several bewildered house elves.

"Can we help you miss?" one of them asked.

"Just leave me the hell alone!" I screamed, rushing around and opening various cabinets. I found a bottle labeled _Fillken's Firewiskey_ and snatched it before any of the house elves could take it from me. The top was a bitch to get off with my eyes full of tears and blurring my vision, but eventually it got opened up. It hurt like a wicked bitch going down the first couple swallows, and after that I didn't care at all. My world started to get fuzzy from something besides tears as I found a pile of something soft to crash on. As I neared the bottom of the bottle, the thought that I should have told the house elves to not get anyone crossed my mind. I tried to get the words out, my mouth feeling like it was full of cotton and my tongue couldn't work my way around it. Finally, I gave up and just downed the rest of the bottle. I threw it somewhere, hearing tinkling of glass distantly before laying my head down on what I could now tell was bags of rice. I closed my eyes, and let myself just float into sweet, dark oblivion.

* * *

The first thing I noticed when I finally woke up from myself induced stupor, besides the pounding in my skull, was that I wasn't in the kitchens. There was not enough noise for it and there was no food smells to aggravate my nauseous stomach. I opened my eyes and immediately shut them with a groan. The light in the room wasn't that bright, but it was bright enough to hurt.

"For someone as bright as you are, I would have thought you would have known better to down an entire bottle of cheap firewhisky," I heard a familiar voice say dryly. I couldn't tell who it with the person's voice sounding like he was screaming in my ears.

"Don't talk to loud," I whimpered, holding my head as I slowly moved so I was sitting on the side of what I realized was a bed. I cracked open my eyes slowly to see James Potter sitting by a fireplace in a high back chair holding an open textbook in his lap. On the table in front of him were two steaming cups of some sort of liquid and a flask of some sort of red bubbling goo over a small flame. He chuckled as I tried move off the bed to try and sit in the chair across from him, but failed miserably. I felt like my entire body was recovering from a fifty mile run.

"You have got to be the only fifth year I know that had the courage to break into the teacher's drink cabinet," he said as he set his book down and grabbed the flask before getting off the chair. He held it out to me and smirked. "If you want to feel better, drink this. I suggest you chug it down though because it tastes like you are licking a dragon's asshole and it feels like it too, but it works."

"Mmmmmk," I said, snatching the flask from him and started to down it. It took about the third swallow before my head cleared enough to realize I was swallowing something that really did taste like a dragon's asshole and feel the burn he was talking about. My eyes flew open and I watched the potion drain swallow after painful swallow. When the flask was empty, I handed it back to James and tried not to puke it back up.

"You need to keep it down for just a little bit longer," he told me softly. I nodded my head, and immediately regretted it. I rushed to the nearby open door and proceeded to get thoroughly sick. I swear I emptied my body of a week's worth of food. James was kind enough to hold my hair up and rub my back while I made a friend out of the toilet. To me, it was my new best friend. It seemed to be forever before I finally felt like I could stop and stand up. James helped me to a chair that was seated across from him and handed me one of the mugs. He settled himself in the other chair and grabbed the left over mug. We sat in silence for a minute before he spoke. "As Head Boy, I should be reporting you to Professor Sprout and you would be stripped of your Prefect duties. However, since Dr. Whitby told me that you had a rough session I am willing to let it slide this once. Next time it happens, I won't be so nice."

"Thanks" I muttered, taking a sip of the liquid from the mug to find to my delight it was peppermint tea.

"Next time, if you had a rough session you tell me and I will take you here," he said. "This room is one of the few rooms in the castle that will not appear to just anyone and if you are in here no one else can get in unless you want them too."

"Okay," I replied, finding much to my relief that his potion had helped my head and stomach. "Did you modify the Pepper-Up Potion for a hangover cure?"  
"No, that creation is a family secret," he said with a smile. "Teddy said it was part of the punishment to have to down that foul stuff after drinking when we were supposed to as well as sympathy for the fact that we had to deal with our parents. He told us that if we were going to be getting yelled at for doing something, we needed to be completely well enough to do so."

"Makes sense," I said, draining the rest of my cup and standing. "I need to be getting back to my house."

"Did anyone ever tell you why no one likes Slytherin?" he asked, leaning forward and gesturing for me to sit back down.

"No, I don't care," I said, staying standing and instead walking to the only door besides the one to the bathroom.

"Well you should!" he called out as I heard him follow me out the door.

"Why does it matter?" I huffed as I whirled on him, pointing in both directions in a silent question. James just stood there, looking at me. "Fine," I snarled and headed to my left. I stormed down the hall, not caring if he followed me or not. I got about fifty paces away before he grabbed my upper arm and held me in place.

"Look, I know you are Malfoy's cousin, and that is fine, but you are definitely smart enough to be in Ravenclaw, and you are more then surely Hufflepuff material, so why did you ask to be put in Slytherin?" he pleaded. I sighed and looked him in the eyes, seeing something I could not describe in them.

"Why does everyone seem to hate that house?" I asked.

"You are Malfoy's cousin and you don't know?" he replied incredulously.

"We try not to talk about our relatives we don't see often," I lied smoothly. James dropped his grip on my arm and stepped back.

"Slytherin's are the house that Death Eaters come from," he said slowly. I kept my indifferent face as he went on to tell me about the war and who was in that house, including Mr. Malfoy. I felt myself going numb, but I revealed nothing as he finally sighed and leaned against one of the nearby pillars. "So there you have it. I am surprised Malfoy didn't tell you himself, or you didn't read about it in the newest edition of _Hogwarts: A History._"

"I don't have a copy," I said, trying to gain my balance from everything I was told. I knew that Death Eaters went to the school, but now it just seemed more real having someone tell me who had the chance to hear it from someone who had firsthand knowledge of it. James turned slightly to face me, that queer look in his eye again.

"I will lend you mine," he said, looking above me and sighing. "Look, curfews almost here and I need to do my own patrols. Let's get you back to your house."

"Right," I replied. Following him as he went in the opposite direction, must to my dismay. "Am I ever going to learn how to get anywhere in this castle?" I grumbled under my breath. James laughed and shook his head.

"It takes more than a week to get anywhere in this place," he said. We made the rest of the way back to my house in silence as I tried to memorize the way back. I at least figured out we were three floors up from how many stairs we went down to get to the main floor. We actually went the same way Albus and I did last night to get back. James stood in front of the wall that lead to our house and sighed. "Look, don't be mad at them okay? If I were them, I would have done the same thing."

"What's that?" I asked. He turned to me and gave me a wistful smile.

"Not tell anyone that my house was bad so I could have the chance to get some decent people in there," he said before turning on his heel and walking off. I looked after him, confused and startled at what he told me. I finally went in the Common Room after a group of third-years opened the door coming back from the library, snapping me out of my daze. I walked in on Scorpius and Colin playing a game of chess. My face must have looked sufficiently furious, because when they both looked up to greet me, Colin took the game and scurried off to the boys dorms.

"You and I need to have a chat, cousin," I said, folding my arms across my chest.

"All right," he replied, nodding as he stood slowly and held out his arm. I took it, well aware that everyone was watching this little exchange as we walked into my dorm. When we arrived at my room, I let him have it full force.

"How dare you not tell me about the history of this house the first night I was here?" I screamed, causing my house elves to squeak and run away. Scorpius stood there, hands in his pockets and calmly stood there as I continued. "I can understand not telling me about the past because there are bad people associated with the house, and I can also understand not telling me because the Sorting Hat might take my opinions into consideration now that I understand how it works, but once I was settled could you not tell me?"

"What would you do Emmy?" he asked quietly, just standing there with his hands in his pockets. "I have been fighting for _years_ to get people to not look at this house like it was some sort of house that trains evil. Since my first day here I have been telling people that we are not all that bad. Just because we are arrogant and have high ambitions doesn't mean we are going to kill Muggles or destroy everyone's work just to be the best. We can be cunning and not have to be assholes about it. Hell, you proved that just by the fact you were able to figure out a way to study in the summer without your parents knowing or having to supervise. Telling Professor Lorenst it was only your father who didn't know about what you were really getting an education is was brilliant, and don't deny it Dad told me it was in the reports."

"So?" I snapped, not sure what most of what he said had to do with the house but wanting to fight back against what he said anyway. "It doesn't mean I really belong here. I just told that stupid hat to put me where my ancestors were! How was I supposed to know they were in here?"

"Look," Scorpius sighed, tipping his head back and looking at the glass domed ceiling. It was dark so you couldn't really see anything, but on sunny days I found it comforting to see the wavy light on the walls and to watch the fish swim around. "I can argue with you over how great this house is, but you can see for yourself we aren't our parents. Albus, Colin, and I are trying to get these kids to see that they can be whatever they want to be. Most of their parents are still in the pureblood fanatic mindset, so it is really fun when I have to explain to the children that come into this house that they don't have to be perfect all the time and not to freak out because they are not excelling at every study. Today, you were so busy with whatever you had to do that you missed the particular bit of fun that Thomas Higgs had an anxiety attack over the fact that he got a howler over his mother finding out that he was said "Excuse me" to a Hufflepuff and held a door open for her."

"What?" I said, shocked enough by what he said to knock some of my anger out.

"Yea and that is just something mild," Scorpius said, setting his mouth in a grim, yet snarky smile. "So, here is the deal little witch, you could be pissed off at me for not telling you about things that are better left in the past and you finding out from someone who had no right to tell you anything about this house since he is biased, or you can help me change how people look at it for future generations. I will give you overnight to think about it and set things into perspective." He turned on his heel and marched out; leaving me with that last bit to mull over as I changed into my emerald pajamas that Astoria sent me the other day. I pushed my bag on the bed, realizing that James must have sent a house elf to return it since I forgot about it completely and probably left it in that room I woke up in with my hangover from hell, before I crawled under the covers and cried myself to sleep.


End file.
